


Know Where (A Walking Dead Story)

by erinnmorai



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: F/F, clementine and violet, twdg - Freeform, twdg continuation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:55:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 45,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23422804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erinnmorai/pseuds/erinnmorai
Summary: A continuation of Clementine's story following the Final Season of the Walking Dead Telltale series. Follow her through finding herself again after losing a leg, and navigating relationships with new-found love Violet, AJ, and the rest of the kids.For the writing of this, we are setting this as everyone (barring Mitch, Brody, and Marlon) is alive. Violet will still have eyes and Louis still has his tongue. Tenn is still alive after the bridge scene. (Because we love our children and they deserve no harm :) )Please enjoy!UPDATE: We talk about our version of how Clementine got saved at the farm. On Tumblr and Reddit, there was a post made from a writer from the game that described how AJ saved Clem. Nevertheless, we think it's good to let imagination run on how it played out :) Thank you!
Relationships: Violetine - Relationship
Comments: 26
Kudos: 103





	1. Prospects

"Breakfast is ready!" Omar shouted from the wooden rotisserie.

Everyone gathered together at the table, the daily hunt from the stream was being served. The bowls were washed decently enough to be used again and everyone helped prepare the table.

"AJ," Violet started. “Stay here and help while I get Clem."

"Okay, tell her that it's the fish again. She loves Omar's fish, for what it's worth."

Ericson's School for troubled Youth didn't seem to fit anymore for the group. Violet and Clem talked about "Happy Sunshine Land" but that didn't stick well with anyone else besides Ruby; she said it made her smile. As much as Violet hated to admit it, Ruby always made her smile too, even in the dark times.

Violet continued to think of more names to discuss with Clem while she was walking up to her room.

"Land for Us? No. Clover? Gross. The Land of Nothing and Everything? Even more gross. Happy Sunshine Land doesn't sound that bad after all." Violet thought as she came up to Clem's door.

She opened the door slowly so as to not to let it creak. Violet had been observing how fast to open the door the past couple times, noting the threshold of too-fast after Clem nearly killed her in fright. She had it down to not too fast, not too slow. Just right. She walked in and closed it behind her.

Clem was still fast asleep. Violet pulled the chair from the desk and sat next to Clem on her bedside. She laid her hand on Clem's, bringing her eyes up to graze over the girl's face. Her expression was soft, maybe even peaceful: lips pressed together, lashes splayed upon plush cheeks, ringlets of brown hair resting in a delicate frame.

Every time Violet watched Clementine sleep now, she was haunted by the memory of when she didn't know Clem would wake.

She had jumped the fence with Tenn when they were escaping the herd Minnie brought. Violet trusted that she'd see her girl's shining face in no time when the four met back up at the school. She waited, and waited, and as seconds turned to minutes turned to hours, worry creeped under her skin like a roach. It was when she saw a gut-covered AJ running toward the school's entrance that her heart fully took the high dive into her stomach.

Everyone mobilized, Ruby taking the reins of the horse and cart they had stolen, Louis, Aasim, and Willy grabbing weapons and hopping in the back, and Violet putting a sobbing AJ into Omar's arms before jumping into the cart as well.

Upon arriving at the abandoned farm, everyone jumped off the cart, Willy cutting loose the wagon they were in, sending it careening through the woods and into a tree a distance off. The crash it made led the walkers to follow it, distracting them from tearing down the old wood structure.

Violet was the first to go blasting to the barn doors, screaming Clem's name as she pushed them open and ran to the girl's side. AJ had tied her jacket tight around her upper leg. Clem was passed out cold. Heat radiated onto Violet's hand as she pressed it to Clem's forehead and her chest labored with shallow breaths.

"We need to get her back to the school," Louis shouted, running in to carefully pick her up and then carrying her back to the horse Ruby was still on. Willy and Aasim stood in front of the barn killing off the straggling walkers.

"Hand her here, I need to get her back quick so I can tend to her," Ruby said, taking Clem into her arms up on the horse.

Before she could hit the reins, Violet was hauling herself onto the horse behind her.

"Stay safe y'all, I better see you at home," Ruby called as she got the horse galloping, Violet chopping off a walker's head as they rode toward the school.

That night, everyone sat around Clementine's bed side, too worried that if they left that'd be the last breath they'd witness of hers. As everyone else dozed off though, Violet remained awake, watching over her.

Violet would remain awake for two nights straight, holding Clementine's hand, reapplying ointment to her wounds and monitoring her temperature. She only moved for AJ, allowing him to sit by Clem's head and pet her hair.

Ruby forced her to sleep after her second all-nighter, insisting that if Clem made it this far, she would wake up, no doubt. Violet was sceptical, but tired, allowing a mattress to be dragged in for her to sleep on. That night she slept 15 hours. She would have probably slept longer had it not been for AJ's snores bringing her to wakefulness. Seeing him snuggled into her side, clutching hard to her shirt, tears and snot dried upon made it okay though.

Clementine slept for a week after it happened, and Violet sat attentively at her side for all of it, watching her closed eyes and pained face. She wanted nothing more than to see those eyes open, see the light behind Clem's amber irises, see that smile, see her take a big breath of oxygen into her lungs and be alive.

It was an afternoon when it happened. AJ had left the room briefly to obtain more colored pencils for the picture he was making for Clem. Violet was playing with the leaves of the yellow and orange flowers Louis had brought in from the forest. He said the "room was too gloomy," that it "needed to be bright like Clementine." He was right, Violet planted in that chair was a sad sight. To this day he jokes that those flowers awoke 'Sleeping Beauty.'

Violet barely noticed the soft groan that escaped Clem's lips, thinking it was a trick of her mind before turning to see Clem's eyes fluttering open. Violet grasped harder onto Clem's hand with both hands, a smile erupting across her lips and tears gathering in her eyes.

"Vi-Violet?" Clem uttered. Violet just nodded and wiped a tear.

"Am I-" Clem began, squeezing her eyes shut then opening them again, taking a second to focus on Violet's face before letting them wander about the room. "Am I alive?"

"Yes you are. You're here, I'm here. You're okay," Violet choked. "You're okay."

Clementine smiled, chuckled a little bit.

In the next moment AJ burst in, dropping his colored pencils at the sound of her voice.

"Clem!" he yelled with glee, jumping past Violet and into Clem's arms.

"My goofball," Clem smiled, holding him tight. She looked up into Violet's smiling eyes. Everything was going to be okay.

Upon feeling Violet's presence, Clementine woke.

"Hey there," Violet said, raspy.

"Good morning," Clem returned.

"It's more like noon, what do you think? You lose a leg and the clock revolves around you?" Violet joked, light lifting her eyes.

"Well, duh," Clem chuckled back, beginning to push herself up from the bed. "Hand me my crutches Vi?"

"Yeah," Violet responded as she grabbed the crutches and handed them to Clem as she turned herself so her legs were dangling off the bed.

After helping her the rest of the way up, the two made their way to breakfast.

Clem walked out of the building to the courtyard with the help of Violet, the blonde tentatively watching. Clem always looked forward to everyone at the table waiting to eat. It's a new thing she noticed, they don't start eating until she's there. It's either they wait for everyone to sit or wait for her; she never knows because she's always the last one at the table. She smiles, but something makes her feel like she's bringing a burden upon everyone. There's been a fear since it happened that she won't be able to support everyone anymore like she used to. It was her responsibility that she loved and lost.

"Hey Clem!" Omar greeted her and sat across from her and Violet. He hands her a bowl of fish in some broth. "I packed up your bowl the best, I know it's your favorite!"

"Thanks Omar," Clem replied with a curious look on her face, "Where's AJ?"

"With Willy and Tenn," Aasim cut in. "They said they needed to get something before they started eating."

While Aasim was finishing his sentence the three boys started running to the table. They had eager looks on their faces, more than just having hungry stomachs. Tenn and Willy sat down next to Louis, and AJ ran to Clem for a hug.

Clem laughed as he collided into her arms, "How's my goofball?"

"Good!" AJ pointed to Willy and Tenn. "We have something for you!"

"I can't wait to see," Clem said with a bright smile on her face. "Let's eat first kiddo."

With everyone sitting at the table, they began to eat. Clem always thought that fish is what Omar cooks best, but no one else agrees. Omar always cooked food with weird things and believed that it was the epitome of flavor. A long time ago Clem started rating his food from best to worst, and the fish has yet to be beaten. She remembered being told when she first arrived that Omar never gets over being told his food is bad.

There was a spell of silence as everyone was eating their food. Moments of silence often scared Clementine before her and AJ had found a home here, but now it feels blissful to her, and everyone sitting at the table.

"I can't wait anymore AJ," Willy started, "here you go Clem!"

"Wait!" AJ interrupted, but couldn't stop the paper from moving to Clementine.

Clementine looked skeptical at this old piece of paper, it was not the first time that Willy tried to prank someone in the group. The whole group stared at her waiting to open it, they were all eager to see what was inside. Clem opened the paper and saw a diagram of drawings that looked like a pirate leg. It had rough measurements, but it was a good blueprint.

"What's this?" Clementine asked.

"A foot for your leg!" All three boys shouted at once.

Clem looked at her left leg and nearly cried instantly. She was getting used to her crutches, and accepted that she'd never be as mobile as she used to. The fact that the boys spent so much time working on it was so honorable of them. She looked at all three boys with pride, knowing that they're growing to be so good.

"I can't believe you boys did this," Clem said with tears in her eyes, "how's this project going for you?"

"That's where it gets better!" Tenn started.

"It's almost done!" Willy said, "We could have it done later today!"

Everyone at the table started cheering on the three boys and looking at Clementine in excitement, maybe she could walk again without her crutches.

"Go ahead and finish eating then show me the foot after it's done," Clem smiled at all three boys and pet AJ's hair.

The sun had progressed across the sky, now hanging in a lazy evening haze. Clementine and Louis sat at a picnic table, playing a game of cards. Violet sat next to Clem fiddling with her curls and looking at her cards, helping her decide what to play. Aasim and Ruby were just returning from a trip to the rabbit traps, a rabbit and a squirrel hanging from their shoulders. Omar was sitting at the top of the watch tower, stacking pebbles into an orderly pyramid.

The relative peace was interrupted by Willy running out of the main building and into the courtyard holding a mass wrapped in an old sheet, AJ and Tenn following at his heels.

"Clem! Clem! Clem!" they shouted together excitedly. Willy reached where she sat, out of breath and holding the sheet-wrapped object with care.

"It is finished. You shall walk again!" Willy exclaimed, AJ and Tenn tearing the sheet away to reveal a wooden calf and foot. It was chunkily carved from wood, two flat sticks coming up from the top with a rubber band attached to hold it to her leg.

Clem broke into a wide smile taking the leg from Willy's hands. Everyone began to gather around the table.

"Well, put it on!" AJ jumped excitedly. Clem looked up to him and pinched his cheek, then proceeded to squeeze Willy and Tenn's shoulders.

"How do I put it on?" She asked, looking up to Willy. He explained to put her leg in between the sticks and bring the rubber band up to wrap around her thigh.

She slid her leg in until it touched the top of the wood, positioning it as Willy instructed. She stretched the rubber band to pull it up onto her thigh, and immediately disliked how tightly it constricted her leg. Clem masked her discomfort, rather expressing her elation at the boys' thoughtfulness.

"Let's see how this thing works," Clem smiled, pushing one hand against Violet's shoulder and the other against AJ's outstretched hand to stand. As soon as weight bore on the prosthetic, she could feel the wood baring into her freshly healing leg. Clem masked the wince the best she could, not wanting to disappoint the boys.

"Help me walk?" Clem turned to Violet and asked. Violet happily nodded and stood, putting an arm around Clem's waste to support her.

As soon as Clem took a step forward, she could tell the wooden leg was much too short, the steps she took were more like strained limps. Again, though, she tried her best to mask it.

After walking about 20 feet with the help of Violet, Clem turned around with a smile, opening her arms to invite the boys in for a hug. They all complied, squeezing her tight.

"Thank you so much," Clem said, continuing to neglect the pain she felt. "You guys are the best."

She walked back to sit on the bench, sitting with the prosthetic on until the boys eventually went back inside. Looking down, she saw that her thigh was turning red under the pressure of the band. Violet noticed Clem's discomfort and rolled the rubber band down and off her leg.

"Are you alright?" Violet whispered to Clem. Clementine looked up into Violet's eyes and gave a half lip smile and motioned 'so-so' with her hand. She leaned into Violet's ear.

"I feel bad because they worked so hard, but honestly it's agonizing. I don't wanna tell them, but I can't walk with this," Clem whispered, frowning. Violet took Clementine's face in her hands and kissed her cheek.

"Clemmy, you can't be in pain to please them, talk to them," Violet said softly.

With a grumpy pout Clementine agreed. She would put AJ's happiness before her own comfort any day, but they weren't outside anymore, they had a home. She started taking care of herself now.

"Hey boys, can I talk to you for a sec?" Clementine called the boys over by the front door.

All three looked prideful walking over to Clementine, it made her hesitant to say what she wanted.

"Listen," she started. "I can't be more thankful and grateful to you boys for this leg, it almost made me feel whole again, if you know what I'm saying."

Willy couldn't help but chuckle, Tenn punched him in the stomach.

"But?" AJ said in disappointment.

"The wood hurts boys," Clem said. "I can't walk correctly in it. I can't feel my upper leg anymore either, the band is cutting off my circulation. I'm sorry, I'm so thankful for you guys, but I have to start using my crutches again."

The boys looked at each other sad, but not long after started to smile again.

"No worries!" Willy beamed in a smile. "It's like bombs, you can't expect it to work the first time. We'll make you a new one!"

"I'm not sure if I would have compared your leg to a bomb, but I agree, we'll make you a new one!" AJ said second.

As everyone was heading back to their rooms, Ruby overheard the conversation.

"You know, there's this old urgent care close by, it's out of the safe zone but that's where the school would take us if the student needed the help." Ruby started. "We could get the silicone she needs for her upper leg, and proper bands and plastic for the leg!"

"That's a good idea!" All three boys yelled in excitement.

"No," Clementine disagreed, "no one needs to go out to make me a leg. It was worth the try, but I'll be fine with crutches."

"Crutches are temporary hun," Ruby said while rubbing her shoulder. "Everyone will help in getting you a leg, it's the least we can do for you. I'm going to tell everyone the plan for tomorrow before they all head to bed. You, you're going to rest."

Clementine was going to disagree again, but stopped herself because she knew they would still push to go. They would tie her up on her bed if they had to if she still resisted.

The boys started walking with Ruby to let everyone know of the plan, Clementine sat in front of the building on the stairs looking at the stars. While looking she rubbed the pin on her jacket from Violet to remind her of that night they spent together.

Clementine heard the discussion inside the building die down and heard doors closing, they must've stopped talking about the plan. Clementine got up from the stairs and met AJ back in their room.

"Hey goofball," Clem greeted.

"You know you don't need to keep protecting us. We owe you a lot, I owe you a lot. It's what you deserve," AJ said.

"I just don't want you to get hurt tomorrow okay?" Clementine said. "You need to-"

"Remember the rules," cutting Clem off.

AJ got up from his bed and turned off the candle, "Goodnight Clem."

"Goodnight." Clem turned to her side, away from AJ. She didn't want him to see that she was still worrying. A couple of minutes laying on her bed, and her leg resting from the pain of the prosthetic, she dozed off to sleep.


	2. Lessons

Clementine woke up as the sun was showing it's crescent in the distance. Light spread in from the window and painted a stripe of gold across her skin. Even though she was just waking. something felt off, she didn't feel right in her bones. 

As she sat up on her bed with her legs dangling, rubbing her eyes, she asked, "Violet can you-?"

She then realized that Violet didn't come to wake her up or help her. This felt unusual, she enjoyed waking up to Violet; it was something that she wished she could experience more of. 

She got her crutches from the side of the bed on her own and left her room. She liked the company Violet gave her when she woke up, they'd talk about their dreams if they had any. Clem decides that it was okay today, she didn't have any dreams last night.

She exited the building and walked into the courtyard, where she saw everyone brightly awake and eagerly talking at the picnic table. Louis, Aasim, and Omar were facing her direction and gave her a smile and a wave. 

Clementine walked over to the table, "I see everyone is up bright and early."

"Anything is bright and early compared to when you get up," Aasim joked.

"Yeah but she still looks better than you in the morning," Violet appealed, not lifting her eyes from the task at hand.

Clementine received a hug from AJ from where he was sitting and sat next to him. Violet seemed to be too focused in the group conversation for Clem to get her attention.

"So we leave in about an hour or two," Violet started. "Ruby and Omar will stay with Clem, and the rest of us will get ready to go to the urgent care."

"Here's a map to where the urgent care is from the school," Ruby handed them an old map, pointing at a circled building. "Shouldn't be that far, it's about two and a half miles west."

"Do I get a say in this?" Clem asked.

"No." Violet remarked at her, looking at her for a second then turning away.

"You must've done something bad," Louis whispers to Clem.

"Like what?"

"Did you put a walker finger under her pillow?" Louis wondered. "That can get anyone mad."

Clem bumped Louis' shoulder enough to push him and shook her head, frowning.

"We should get back before nightfall, it shouldn't take us that long to be in and out and back home," Aasim said. "Omar, start cooking dinner around the usual time, we'll be back by then."

Everyone agreed simultaneously, with Clementine in the shadows of what was happening. As everyone started to leave the table to prepare, Clementine reached for Violet's wrist and stopped her from leaving.

"Can you please tell me what's going on?" Clementine frowned. "And I missed your face this morning waking up." 

It hurt Violet to see her this way, she only wanted to protect her. "I-I'm sorry Clem... Ruby and Omar will stay with you in case something happens at home. The rest of us will go and get supplies for your leg and anything else we can find. We're preparing right now, and we're gonna leave in the next hour. I got so caught up in the plan I lost track of time. I promise I'll never forget it again."

Violet kissed Clem's forehead softly, pausing before saying, "Goodmorning Clemmy, we'll be okay. Talk to AJ, I offered him to stay but he really wanted to go."

Clementine smiled meagerly and agreed, turning to AJ with a serious look. "Are you sure that you want to do this? I know you're my brave boy, you have nothing to prove, I love you."

"I know," AJ said. "I love you back. I want to do this, it's been a while since we went out beyond the safe zone."

"Exactly," Clementine started. "It's not bad to stay here. We're settled at home."

"Yeah, but there's something that you need now, and I want to get it for you," AJ looked at Clem with classic puppy dog eyes. AJ was determined to do this.

"Okay kiddo, promise me you'll return home?"

"Pinky promise!" AJ smiled at her and went to prepare with everyone else. He started saying pinky promises since Clem taught him it. He'd say it every time someone asked something from him, even though he wouldn't use it right at times. She found it endearing.

Within the next hour, everyone was prepared for the plan and ready to leave. Clementine planted a kiss on Violet's lips and one on AJ's forehead before the group departed out the gate, bidding them all to be careful on the journey. She couldn't help but feel bad. They were risking their lives for her. She should have been doing this. The leg was for her after all.

Ruby took notice of Clem's pensive face and approached her.

"Hey Hun, I was thinking about starting up the green house again today, would you like to join?" Ruby asked, softly so as not to startle Clem. The brunette turned to her and smiled softly, nodding. The two began walking toward the greenhouse. 

"How are you doin'?" Ruby asked, looking to Clem as she crutched alongside her. 

"Okay," Clem feigned a smile, which Ruby saw right through. 

"But really, how are you?" Ruby pushed again. Clem sighed in defeat. Ruby opened the greenhouse door for her to enter through. She hobbled in. 

"Honestly, I feel so much guilt right now," Clem confessed. "I hate that everyone is risking their lives for me. I hate that I can't protect everyone like I used to. I feel so useless and like a burden on everyone. I should have been walker food, and now that you guys saved me you all have to work harder and risk more to pull my weight. And now they're going on a death-wish mission for me and I can't even go and protect them."

Clementine was fiddling with a leaf as she spoke, accidentally crushing it in her fingers as she continued to let go the emotions she had been locking in. Ruby frowned.

"But Clem, we care about you, a lot. You don't have to feel bad, we do this because we want to. We're a family. Families help each other when they're down," Ruby replied, a sincere look of concern etched into her face. "Take care of yourself right now, we got it handled." 

Clem looked to Ruby and smiled, touched by what the redhead had said. "Thank you Ruby, I know you guys want to, and I appreciate you all, it's just been really hard coming to terms with this. In that barn I thought I was dead and then I woke up here. I'm thankful, but god it's hard." 

Ruby laid a hand on her shoulder, grabbing a shovel and handing it to her, "I know, but know I'm always here to be a shoulder to lean on. Now! How about we plant some of these beans to get your mind off it." 

"Think fast!" Ruby exclaimed as she took a bean and threw it upward. Clem smiled, reaching out for it and catching it with precision. 

"I may not have a leg but I got two working arms!" Clem laughed as she playfully shoved Ruby and tossed some soil in the air, it landed on both their heads. The girl's chuckled a little while longer, brushing themselves off before going to work on the bean plants.

~~~

Half a mile away from the urgent care, while walking down a battered asphalt road lined by trees, Violet expressed concern to Louis.

"Do you think Clem trusts me enough? To do things on my own?" She asked. "I feel like she should know I'll be okay on my own, but it feels like she thinks I'm always walking to my death. Ever since she woke up from the incident she'd never let me go anywhere unless I told her where I was going, or where we were all going."

"She just lost a huge part of her," Louis said with a laugh, he tried to continue talking but started to laugh even harder.

"It's not funny!" Violet shouted. "I'm being serious Louis."

"Okay, okay," Louis settled down. "This is a new thing for her, staying at home and relaxing, she's been on the road way longer than us and she wants to be a part of what we're doing. Getting her these things for her leg will be good for Clem and the rest of us, she'll feel like herself again. She just wants us all to be safe."

Violet agreed "Yeah, you're right, I just wished she trusted us more to do things like this."

Aasim started yelling at the group behind him. "This is it!"

Violet looked up to see an old abandoned urgent care. The walls were a faded white, cracking in places but still looked as if it was fresh out of the old days. The front said St. Agnes Emergency Center in big bold red letters. It didn't look like much was inside, but hopefully there was enough for Clem's leg.

"Let's split up and find an entrance," Aasim directed.

Louis tried the front door and it was locked on the inside. The back door Willy found was locked up and boarded with wood, there was no way for them to get inside from the back. AJ and Tenn started walking on the side walls and found a window with just enough space to break open. 

"There's a window over here!" AJ told the group.

The group huddled at the window, AJ threw a rock at it and broke the lower half, sweeping away the excess glass with his knife. They waited for any noises of walkers, but the rock hadn't seemed to wake up any. 

"One of you boys needs to go in and unlock the front door from the inside," Louis said.

"I'll do it," AJ offered.

"Are you sure? I want to bring you home to Clem in one piece. My relationship with her depends on it," Violet teased, chuckling.

"Yes, I'm sure," AJ smiled. "Tenn, remember how you said that you wanted to get to know my ways of survival?"

Tenn nodded. 

"The first rule Clem taught me when entering a place for the first time is to find a place to hide if things get bad," AJ pointed to a cabinet inside the urgent care. "That's perfect."

"Okay," Tenn said with a trembling voice. "Thank you."

AJ boosted himself up with the help from Aasim and crawled his way in, being careful to avoid the sharp shards left at the top of the window. 

"Talk to me AJ," Aasim said. "How does it look?"

"Fine," AJ said, walking over to the front door. "Meet me over here!"

AJ walked carefully through the room he had landed in and to the front door. It was dark and quiet in the urgent care. It almost felt peaceful. 

The group walked to the front door, and AJ already had it pushed open for them.

"I have to do all the hard work," he laughed, rolling his eyes as he held the door open. "After you madam," he said to Willy who was the last to come through, closing the door behind them.

"I ain't no madam!" Willy quipped back, feigning offense.

The group started walking deeper inside the lobby area of the clinic. As they did, groans began to echo from across the room. Not a second later, three walkers arose behind the shelves of the building.

"Walkers!" Tenn screamed, in shrill. 

Louis, Violet, and Aasim started taking care of the walkers. AJ ran and kicked one down to its knees, allowing Violet to stab the walker in the head. Willy pushed one walker down onto its stomach and Aasim crushed its head by his foot. Louis slammed the last walker onto the wall and put a knife through its temple. AJ noticed that Tenn just stood and watched.

"For a second there I thought you were gonna makeout with it," Willy teased Louis.

"Who knows?" Louis joked. "I'm pretty lonely."

The whole group observed their surroundings and were surprised at what they found. There were still plentiful painkillers, ointment, and other supplies to collect.

"This is amazing," Louis said, smiling ear to ear.

"Let's split up," Violet directed. "Tenn and Aasim, you guys gather supplies for back home. Louis, AJ and Willy come with me to find what we need for Clem's leg. We'll meet back here at the front door."

Everyone nodded in agreement and went separate ways. Tenn and Aasim stayed at the front of the building grabbing painkillers and supplies for first aid. Violet, Louis, AJ, and Willy went inside to the specialized rooms to look for silicone pads for Clem's leg, plastic to use for construction, and leather bands to wrap around her thigh. While walking to the back, they passed a vending machine.

"I wonder if this has anything left in it," Violet thought out loud, walking to the machine. She saw nothing hanging on the shelves inside, so instead put her hand inside the dispenser, wiggling it around against the metal. She was about to back out in defeat until she felt something rectangular touch her fingertips. She grasped her hand around the object and pulled it out, holding up the shiny package like a prize. The side of it read Twix.

Violet smiled. "This would make Clementine really happy, she needs this right about now," she thought, putting it into her pocket securely.

Aasim and Tenn were walking in between every aisle grabbing what they found useful. When they turned to enter another aisle, Aasim ran into a top half of a walker laying down. It was wearing what looked like an old patient gown, a bottle of pain pills in hand.

"Be careful," Aasim instructed Tenn as he stepped over the walker.

Tenn mimicked what Aasim did, but the walker woke up to Tenn stepping halfway through and grabbed his ankle.

"Oh my God!" Tenn screamed, loud enough to hurt Aasim's ears.

Aasim turned around and saw the walker pulling Tenn's ankle closer to it, "Here! Use this!" He threw a knife to Tenn.

Tenn clumsily caught the knife and looked at the walker, mortified. He couldn't seem to move or fight or even breath. He was frozen in place. The walker was getting closer to his ankle, tugging it close to its mouth. In the split second of decision, Aasim grabbed the knife from Tenn's hand and stabbed the walker on the back of its head.

"What the hell? You could have gotten bit!" Aasim reprimanded. "Are you alright?" He examined Tenn's leg and found it clean. 

Tenn didn't move for the next couple seconds, he was still frozen in his position. He turned to Aasim and nodded in shock. Aasim patted his back and let Tenn walk in front of him to make sure he saw him at all times. Tenn started feeling embarrassed about what he did, he wondered why he couldn't move. 

Violet and the rest of the second group searched the first couple of rooms, coming up with nothing. They opened the fourth door in the back of the hallway, and revealed something that looked like a small surgery room. 

"There has to be something in here," AJ hoped. 

The four started looking around, Louis observed the metal table in the middle of the room with a cloth over it. An IV was still hooked to a bag, heart monitor wires strung under the sheet, and a tray with pristine tools sat next to the bed. The scene looked like a snapshot in time.

"Looks like someone had a surgery on the wrong day," Louis said. He turned the cloth over and saw someone laying down with their head split open, stitches halfway started, but now the needle and thread just dangled from the skin. 

"Holy shit!" Louis yelled. The whole group turned to him and saw the walker.

"It doesn't seem to be alive," Willy noticed. "I think it's fine."

Louis agreed and put the cloth over the walker's head again, patting it gently and turning away. AJ and Violet looked through some cabinets and found plastic for the leg and silicone padding. As everyone had their back away from the chair, rummaging through the room, the walker sat up. The sound of the cloth falling made each of their heads turn.

"Fuck!" Willy yelled. 

Louis ran to the walker, took a scapula from the tray and proceeded to stab it in its existing wound. He took the tool out and proceeded to stab the walker multiple times more. It fell back onto the chair, lifeless as it had been seconds ago.

"Looks alive to me," Louis smirked at Willy, taking the sheet and once again covering the gory sight. 

"I'm sorry," Willy pouted. "But good news, this drawer has the leather straps for Clem!"

"We found the plastic and the silicone pads too," Violet and AJ said in unison.

"Are you guys okay back there?" Aasim asked the group at the beginning of the hallway outside the rooms.

"Yeah!" they answered, the groups met at the front door.

"Looks like we grabbed everything we needed!" Violet said ecstatically, showing her smile, which was a rarity. 

"And we got some supplies for colds, stitches, and other things if need be," Tenn smiled at the others. When he turned to AJ, he put on a worrisome face. 

"It's getting dark out," Aasim observed, "we should really get back-"

"Guys," Violet interrupted and directed the group to look out the window.

Out the window, walkers were swarming towards the front door. Clawing at the walls and metal door. This was a much larger group of them than they had taken on their own.

"Oh no, not again," Tenn whispered. "This is my fault."

The group grabbed their weapons, and took stances to fight.

~~

Back at home, Clementine saw the daylight running out as she was sitting at the picnic table with Ruby, getting the table set up for dinner. 

"They're still not back home," Clementine said in a worried tone, panicking. "We have to go run out for them, something is wrong."

"Honey, sit back down," Ruby insisted. "They are fine, they'll be back as soon as you know it, it's a long walk from the urgent care. They'll be coming back anytime now."

Ruby attempted to assure Clementine, but it didn't work. Clem's head was racing with all the worst possible outcomes. She couldn't lose any of them, they all meant too much. 

She pushed Ruby's hand off her shoulder, grabbed her crutches and a bow, and walked as fast as she could to the horse tied to the watchtower. Clementine hauled herself up on the saddle as Ruby was running toward her.

"Clementine, get off that horse right now, damn it!" Ruby demanded.

"They're out there and in trouble!" Clementine sympathized. "I have to go out for them." 

As Ruby was pulling Clem's wrist to get her down, Clementine directed the horse to start running at the front gate. 

"Clem, wait!" Omar yelled, as him and Ruby started running after her.

"Stay here!" Clem said. "I'll be back, I promise." Omar and Ruby couldn't get in another word before Clem opened the gates and ran away with the horse. 

She held the reins tight as it galloped through the woods. Tears ran down her cheeks as she rode. She sniffled and exhaled frustratedly. She should be able to protect them. 

Not too long after taking off, Clem reached the urgent care, gasping at the sight of a hoard of walkers swarming the front of the building. 

"Violet! AJ! Louis! Guys!" Clementine screamed out for her friends in the herd of walkers.

"Did you guys hear that?" Tenn questioned.

"What? Violet yelled while pushing back a walker, "I don't-"

Violet turned around to see a walker approaching from behind her, she screamed and froze before she reacted. Before she could blink, an arrow shot through the head of the walker.

Violet turned to the direction where the arrow was shot, she saw Clementine riding through a gap between the walkers, stabbing some in the head as she rode past. She arrived at the huddled group.

"I thought you would be more careful!" Clementine exclaimed with concern. "What if I didn't come to check on you?"

"Then we would have been fine!" Violet screamed in anger. Violet showed eyes towards Clementine that she hadn't seen in a while, not since the shipwreck. "And you should be home!"

"Clem!" AJ yelled. "What are you doing here?"

Clementine didn't respond, the anger in Violet's eyes shook her and directed her back to the walkers. 

"We can't take all of them at once," Clementine declared. "I'll make a gap once I see one and you guys run behind me!"

"You shouldn't be here! You never trust me to do anything!" Violet became furious. 

"We can't talk about this right now, yell at me when we're safe!" Clementine stopped the argument and continued looking for a path, her eyes rapidly searching the crowd of walkers. After a couple seconds of observing, Clementine picked out an escape route in the left section of the herd. 

"Follow me! Run!" Clementine kicked the horse to the left and the group ran behind her. While escaping, Clementine ran her knife through two walkers' heads, preventing them from lunging into their escape path. The group continued pushing back walkers behind them as they ran. It felt like forever before they started walking peacefully. 

"I think we're safe," Aasim said while he caught his breath.

Violet ran in front of the horse and forced it to stop, pushing Clementine back in the saddle. 

"What are you doing Violet?" Clementine said sternly.

"Why did you come out for us?" Violet questioned with rage. "You could have died, you're not ready to go outside and do things like that. We told you we could take care of it! And you left Ruby and Omar alone! How do you know that they aren't in danger at the school and they could have needed you there? It could have been a waste of energy coming all this way! And it fucking was! We were fine alone!"

AJ stepped beside Violet, "You told me that I was brave, that I can start deciding things for myself. I should have known that you were still questioning me, just like you did back at the cave."

Clementine immediately regretted her decision, she didn't mean for them to feel that way, but rage sparked in her too.

"I couldn't sit there and do nothing! I didn't even agree to this!" Clementine yelled back. "I feel helpless enough as it is and now you don't even tell me what's going on? I thought we were a team, I thought we called shots together? But now I'm apparently to fucking fragile to do anything? To be told what's happening without having to pry it out of you? And AJ, this has nothing to do with trusting you. It has to do with protecting you. I've watched over you since you were born and that's not stopping whether you like it or not."

AJ tightened his fists and stomped away to the back of the group. Violet grunted loudly and shook her head.

"You're so goddamn stubborn!" She yelled, stripping out of the way of the horse. "Let's just get home."

The group walked in silence back to the school for the first part of the journey. 

After a while, Tenn tapped AJ on the shoulder, "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure," AJ said with a dim smile. "What's wrong?"

"Back at the urgent care," Tenn started. "I didn't kill any walkers. When Aasim and I were looking for supplies, a walker grabbed my ankle."

"Shit," AJ said in shock. He looked over at Clementine to see if she would be mad about him cursing, but she seemed to have a lot more things on her mind than what he was saying. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Tenn replied. "Aasim handed me the knife to kill it, but I couldn't. He had to take it from me again and stab the walker himself. Every part of me wanted to kill it. I looked at it with a clear shot, but I couldn't move. I just froze, staring at it. Am I ever going to be strong enough to kill a walker?" 

Tenn looked at AJ with heavy shoulders. AJ felt prideful, knowing that someone his age is asking for advice from him. "Don't worry, Tenn. When I was young I hated seeing Clementine kill every walker when I just watched, I stood there. I felt powerless."

AJ continued, "But I learned from it. Even though I watched her, I observed everything that she was doing and teaching me. It's how I started killing walkers too. The first time you kill one, it's awesome. I felt something I never felt before. Power. Maybe in the next couple days we can go out and kill some walkers together for practice. I know you can do it." 

AJ sent Tenn a smile. Tenn took his words to heart and assured himself, "Yeah, that would be nice."

The group started seeing the familiar brick walls of the school in the distance. 

"Ruby! They're back!" Omar shouted from the lookout stand. 

Ruby opened the gates and ran towards the group. Louis, Aasim, and Willy ran inside the gate while the rest continued walking.

"I sense something awkward and dark between the three of you," Ruby said towards Violet, Clem, and AJ.

"Shut up," Violet said and jogged back inside the school.

Clementine tried to reach out for her, but she was unsuccessful. AJ followed Violet before Clementine could say anything to him. 

Clementine wiped the dew from her eyes in defeat, "I just wanted to know that they were safe. Is that really that bad?"

"I know sweetie," Ruby said. "Just remember, we were all around the same age when this whole thing started. And we have survived everything since. Violet survived, and AJ. They are capable of handling things on their own."

Ruby paused and looked at Clementine, "And, I would've told you this if you just stopped running off with the horse!"

"I'm so sorry," Clementine frowned. "I hope they can forgive me... but I shouldn't need to apologize for anything! I saved her life!"

Ruby shook her head and patted Clem's shoulder.

Ruby and Clementine were the last ones back inside the school. As they entered they saw everyone eating the dinner Omar had cooked for them a long time ago. It was past dinner time at this time of day. It was most likely cold. But food is food, and Clem wasn't sure if warm food would feel right with the bitterness in the air.

Ruby ate with the group and Clementine grabbed a bowl and ate at the stairs in front of the school building. 

"What is she doing?" Louis wondered.

I don't know," Aasim sighed and teased. "being weird I guess."

Louis stood up and nudged Aasim to do the same. Aasim rolled his eyes, but grabbed his journal and followed Louis towards Clementine. 

"Oh! Clementine!" Louis greeted, "How art thou', Clementine?"

"Shut up," Clementine remarked.

"If I didn't know any better," Aasim sat next to Clem. "You sounded just like Violet."

Clementine rolled her eyes and tried to ignore them.

"Awh, C'mon Clementine don't give us that," Louis rubbed her shoulder. "You guys will be fine, you're like, all googly eyed all the time and all that shit."

"I'm not so sure," Clementine said, directing her attention to Violet and AJ sitting at the picnic table. She could almost feel Violet's eyes on her every now and then, but she chalked it down to just being paranoid.

"You guys are inseparable," Louis encouraged Clem to look at the brighter side. "I bet you Violet can only go an hour without talking to you, especially since you guys are in the same area."

"It doesn't seem like it," Clementine glanced again at Violet. "She doesn't even want to look at me."

"Listen. If I'm right, and Violet does end up talking to you and you guys make up, like I know you will, you owe me your hands and voice on the piano. I need some help on it," Louis joked.

"You don't stop, do you?" Aasim smiled. 

"Music never waits!" Louis yelled running back to the picnic table.

"Really though, you guys will be fine. Ruby and I argue all the time, but I know she still got the hots for me, don't tell her I said that though," Aasim nudged Clementine. He started writing in his journal, documenting the day as he had done for everyday as far back as he could remember. 

"What happened today?" Clem asked, trying to get her mind off Violet. 

"Everything you know, besides what happened inside the urgent care," Aasim answered.

There was a moment of silence before Clementine asked, "What did happen at the urgent care?"

"There were a couple walkers inside, not many though. We took care of them. There was a plentiful amount of medicine on the shelves. We were really happy to see that. Once we got inside we split up. Tenn and I looked for medicine, and the others looked for supplies for your foot. We actually got everything we needed, and more," Aasim said while writing at the same time. "It was a successful trip."

"But how come you guys were overthrown by walkers by the time I got there?" Clementine squinted, suspicious of the smooth-sailing story Aasim had recounted.

"When Tenn and I were looking for supplies, a walker grabbed his ankle and it made him scream. It really hurt my ears. He's fine, but I think that scream brought every walker within a mile radius to us." Aasim continued. "There were a lot, but I think we handled it well. We were almost out of it on our own, but the sight of you threw us off. Don't feel bad, we actually appreciated the help."

Aasim turned his head away from Clementine and looked at Violet, "I know she appreciated it too. She doesn't like admitting when she knew she was saved by someone else, especially if it was you saving her. She wanted you home because she cares about you, and she wants to be strong enough to care for you. It's what anyone would do for someone they love."

Clementine didn't reply, she leaned on Aasim's shoulder while he finished documenting what happened today, watching his pen strokes. It was graceful, relaxing to watch. She decided she'd have to watch him write more often. When he was done, he gave Clementine a hug and walked back to Ruby. 

Violet and AJ noticed that Clementine was sitting alone, and they started walking towards her. Violet approached with her hands clasped in front of her, head down, and AJ shadowed between her legs. 

"Hey Clemmy," she softly smiled and looked up into Clementine's eyes, searching for what emotion they portrayed. The amber in Clem's eyes was solid, not giving anything away.

"Violet. AJ," she responded, stirring around the broth left in her bowl.

"I- um, I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier," Violet started. "I yelled at you and I shouldn't have. I just-" she paused, looking for words.

"You just?" Clem asked, breaking the pause and raising a brow.

"I just feel like you don't trust me, to take care of you, or do things without you. I can protect you if you'd just let me," Violet croaked with her head down.

"Violet..." Clem trailed. She reached out her hand for Violet to take, which she did readily, stepping closer. "I trust you, I feel like you don't trust me. I just don't want to be left out of the important things now that-" she gestured to her lack of a leg, "im like this." 

"I trust you Clemmy, I just care about you a lot too, if something happened to you I don't know what I'd do. I want to be there for you. Please let me," Violet confessed. Clem smiled, pulling the blonde to sit next to her. She held up a pinky.

"Pinky promise. I'll trust that you have things handled, and you'll trust that I'm not completely helpless. I do still enjoy your help in the mornings though," Clementine smiled, her eyes softening to gooey honey.

Violet held up her pinky and intertwined it with Clem's "I promise."

"Pinky promise!" AJ jumped in with his pinky. Clementine laughed.

"Not exactly the right moment kiddo," Clem giggled out.

"I wanna say I'm sorry too," AJ began, crawling to sit next to Clem's other side. "I'm young, and you're old, and you protect me. I like it that way, I just like to feel powerful sometimes."

Clem looked down to him and ran a hand through his hair before hugging him close. "I accept your apology goofball." 

AJ smiled up to her, squeezing her one last time before running to go play with Tenn before it was time to head to bed, "I'll be back in the room soon!"

Violet stood and turned to Clem, holding out a hand, "May I help you to bed?" 

Clementine smiled and nodded, taking her hand and standing. The two began to walk inside the dorm building.

"I found you something at the urgent care," Violet said as she opened the door to Clementine's room, allowing her to walk in before closing the door behind them.

"Is that so?" Clem playfully asked as she lowered herself to sit on her bed.

"Yes," Violet said as she pulled the Twix bar from her pocket. "I remembered you said it was your favorite from before all this happened." She held out the candy bar to Clem.

Clem broke into a large smile, taking it from her hand as her mouth began to water.

"You remembered," Clem said softly, inspecting the bar as if she expected it to not be real.

"How could I not?" Violet smiled sitting next to her. Clem began to open the wrapper and took out the two sticks. She held one out to Violet.

"Share?" Clem asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure," Violet responded, grabbing the chocolate. They took bites simultaneously, humming in glee at the crunch it made. They both ate their half slow, so as to savor every last crumb. When Clem finished, she began to lick the wrapper clean. 

"Woah woah woah, don't go cheating on me with a Twix wrapper," Violet laughed, resulting in a shove from Clementine, knocking her to lay down on the bed.

Clem threw the wrapper onto the desk and laid down next to Violet, pushing her head onto her shoulder. 

Clem looked up into blue eyes, sparkly with the lingering light of a smile. 

"Let's stay like this forever," Violet said, leaning down to place a lingering kiss on Clem's lips. 

"Okay," Clem responded simply. "Stay here with me please, don't leave." 

Violet thought for a moment, running her hands through Clem's tangled curls. After a moment she nodded. 

"Okay, I like that idea," Violet responded. Clem smiled up at her and snuck a kiss.

Eventually the two snuggled under the blankets of Clementine's bed, cuddling into eachother's warmth as they drifted into a peaceful sleep.


	3. A Hard Day’s Night

The sun was still shallow in the sky, barely painting its pink hues onto the backdrop of night. AJ laid face down on his pillow, Disco Broccoli in one hand and Beet Nick dangling from the other. 

On the other side of the room, Clementine lay cuddled into Violet's side, her arm laying across the blonde's middle. Violet had one hand clasping that arm, the other wrapped around Clem. 

The peaceful silence the room sat in was only mildly disrupted by a knock on the dormitory door, it slightly creaking open as Louis entered the room. Clementine was the only one to wake, tentatively opening her eyes to see Louis's face illuminated by a small candle. 

"I'm here to steal your girl," he whispered with a smile.

"Over my dead body," she quietly chuckled, yawning as she hit the end of the phrase. 

"Now don't speak that into the world Clem," Louis put a hand on his hip. "I'll give you a few minutes to wake her up, her shift doesn't start for about ten minutes."

As quickly as he appeared, Louis left the room, softly shutting the door behind him. Clementine turned her head up to look at Violet. She let her eyes wander over the girl's face. 

Violet had a pointed chin, and small lips. They sat comfortably closed while breath whistled softly in and out of her nose. Her eyelashes were light, almost transparent against her skin. Violet's skin was pale and blotchy, small patches of dirt and red speckled among her snow white complexion. Clementine loved it nonetheless though, studying the way the color followed the contour of her face. 

Clem frowned at the thought of having to wake her. She looked so peaceful, and relaxed; this was rare for Violet. When she was awake she looked so hardened, so worried that the next moment would bring her betrayal and abandonment. Clementine hated Minerva for this. The way Violet would look so desperate when she begged Clementine to be safe, to make her way back to her. The way Violet looked so hurt at Minerva's betrayal at the ship, as if their past friendship- and relationship, as much as Clem disliked thinking of it- had been nothing. But most painful, the panic in Violet's eyes at Minerva bringing a herd to them, attempting to take Tenn down with her. Had it not been for AJ's sharp shooting after Violet threw Tenn across the bridge, she would have been dead and unable to make the jump too, succumbed to the fate her ex-girlfriend brought to them. 

Clementine blinked away the tears forming in her eyes, shaking her head to the dark thoughts clouding her head. She crawled up slightly so she was directly above Violet's face. Clem places a soft peck on the blonde's lips. Violet's lips pulled into a smile in response, eyes staying glued shut.

"Good morning Vi," she hummed, placing another kiss on her lips and a hand on her chest. Violet's eyes sleepily fluttered open. "It's time to protect Happy Sunshine Land."

Violet immediately squeezed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at the name Clem came up with to replace Ericson. 

"We need a better name," Violet said raspy, reaching a hand up to tuck Clementine's loose curls behind her ear.

"What? I think Happy Sunshine Land is quite apt," Clem smiled down at Violet.

"Nope," Violet replied, turning onto her side so the two were facing each other. "What about... Texas?"

Clem raised an eyebrow, "We can't name it Texas, there's already a Texas."

"Texas Two then," Violet replied simply.

"Texas Two it is then until we think of something better," Clem smiled.

"I think Texas Two is quite apt," Violet mocked Clementine's voice, barely holding onto the impersonation before breaking into a loud laugh. Clementine joined in, feeling her cheeks hurt as the two swung into a comfy embrace. A shuffle was heard from AJ's side of the room, causing the two to shush each other. They spent the next moments in a nice silence, holding each other and relishing in the novelty of the moment.

Violet begrudgingly began to sit up in the bed, Clem's hand still placed softly upon her chest. "I gotta go start watch," she frowned. 

"I'll see you in a few hours," Clementine pushed herself up to kiss Violet goodbye. Violet softly deepened the kiss, lingering there before placing her forehead against Clem's briefly and standing up. 

"I'll be here to wake you for breakfast," Violet said as she opened the door to leave, letting her eyes linger on her girl for a few seconds longer before closing it behind her.

Clementine laid back down in bed, staring at the top bunk, smiling. She closed her eyes to drift back to sleep when a small voice drew her attention.

"Clem?" AJ's soft voice called from between the two beds. 

She opened her eyes again to the image of AJ standing over her, Disco Broccoli still in hand.

"Hey kiddo, I'm sorry if we woke you," Clem said, opening her arm so AJ could cuddle in. He readily did, placing his toy on the bed side stand before laying his head on Clem's chest. The two closed their eyes to slip back to sleep.

"Hey Clem?" came AJ's voice not a minute later.

"Hmm?" Clem hummed.

"Did Violet sleep here because she was scared? Because I sleep with you when I'm scared, so I was wondering if she was scared. Or is it because you guys like each other?" AJ asked, looking up into Clem's eyes.

Clementine smiled at AJ's musings. "No, Violet wasn't scared kiddo. She slept here because we like each other's company."

"I agree with her, you're nice to be around," AJ said, before shifting his head back down to fall asleep.

The two laid in silence again, a ridicule smile sitting on Clem's lips at AJ's questions. They were cute, and so simple, and so pure compared to the world outside.

"So are you and Violet like, really together?" AJ questioned again, this time after a slightly longer period of silence.

"Um-" this question stumped Clem. She and Violet hadn't really talked about it. With the past month or so, something so mundane seemed impossible. "Not yet, but I think we will be, I want to be. Are you okay with that AJ?"

She felt AJ nod against her chest.

"Louis says you guys are taking too long," he giggled. "Violet is tough and funny, I like her."

"Well I'm glad I have your approval goofball," Clem smiled once again, her eyes growing heavier. 

This time she really thought the silence would last until morning. Maybe 10 minutes later, though, AJ spoke again.

"Clem?" he asked.

"Yes?" she answered.

"So since you and Violet are together does that mean she's my mom too? Like you?" 

Clem's eyes widened, surprised at what he said. 

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"Like, do I have to listen to her if she tells me to stop burping like I'd listen to you? Or... if she says a rule do I have to follow it?" 

Clem thought for a moment, not quite sure how to answer.

"Well kiddo, I'll keep you updated." Clem said. 

"So she isn't a mom?" AJ asked. 

"No, she, uh, she's someone you should listen to and respect, just like anyone else here. You can go to her if you need anything," Clem patted AJ's hair, closing her eyes.

"That sounds like you, and you're a mom," AJ said, now becoming confused.

Clem let out a sigh.

"Sure bud, she's a mom," Clem chuckled. This answer satisfied AJ, him snuggling back into her side and falling asleep.

After the sun had long ago risen and so had the group, Violet helped Clementine sit down at the picnic table for breakfast and sat next to her. Everyone sat together at the table and caught up on everything as a family, talking about dreams and their plans for the day and what type of seeds they wished would be planted in the greenhouse next. AJ challenged Tenn to a drawing contest while they were eating. Clementine always encouraged AJ to have manners at the picnic table, but seeing him act like a kid was too valuable for her to interrupt. She nodded as he looked to her for approval before quickly grabbing the art supplies.

"How was watch?" Clem asked Violet, putting a hand on her thigh.

"Good," Violet replied. "But there's something that I wanted to address with everyone. I was going to get to that."

"Oh really?" Clementine was surprised, there hasn't been any commotion to hear about from someone patrolling lately. 

"Yeah, but it's not that important," Violet looked at the brick walls that surrounded the school and looked at Clementine with concern. "The bricks. They're alright, but I feel like they're deteriorating. I had an idea that it wouldn't be bad to reinforce the walls. Maybe look for some old wood to recycle and patch up any holes or loose bricks in the walls."

"That's a good idea!" Clementine exclaimed. 

Clementine always cheered on Violet when she pitched in her ideas for the place. She knew that Violet used to have a hard time doing things like that. Clementine then raised her voice for the rest of the group, "Guys!"

"Girls!" Louis remarked, rendering an eye roll from Clem.

"As I was patrolling this morning," Violet started. "I saw some loose bricks and holes in the walls that could be a problem later. I think it would be a good idea to recycle some old wood inside the school or from the old bell tower and use it to patch it up."

The group then discussed with the person next to them, rambling on ideas. Violet was trying to make sentences from what they were saying but there was too much commotion. There were worried voices and happy voices all at the same time. 

"Hello?" Violet asked awkwardly.

The group turned back around at her and nodded. 

"I'll get planks of wood with AJ and Tenn!" Willy said with food in his mouth.

"Ruby and I will walk around the perimeter of the walls, inside and outside, and mark with paper where the weak spots are," Aasim offered. 

"I'll do that with you guys, outside might be dangerous." Violet joined in.

Clementine looked flustered, she looked frustrated with the plan as she realized she might not be of any help. 

Louis and Omar noticed Clementine's face. Becoming too familiar with it lately, they said, "After you guys mark the walls, we'll get the wood from Willy and start boarding it from the outside." Louis nodded to Clem in agreement. She started smiling again. 

Before the group left to start on the plan, they ate the last bites of the three rabbits Omar and Ruby found last night. The rabbits had waltzed right up to the gates during their watch, resulting with an arrow in each. Ruby called it luck brought by the success of yesterday's mission. Omar called it three dumb rabbits.

Rabbit stew was in the top three of Clementine's rankings of Omar's food. She's no cook, but she always felt that Omar overcooked the rabbit, leaving it slightly tough. 

Her ranking system reminded her of the cooking shows her parents would watch in the old days, where judges would eat a bite of people's food and critique it. So much food was wasted in those shows, a fact Clementine hadn't realized until recently.

The group started stacking their bowls together after they were finished eating. Willy, Tenn, and AJ were the first ones to get up from the table.

"I don't want the bell tower to go away," AJ turned back around to the group with a frown.

"What do you mean AJ?" Clementine looked at him with confusion. "It's old, and it'll be repurposed to help the walls."

"No!" AJ rebutted. "We could still use it for something else. We could make a tree house! I know you had one before Clem, we could make it a fun, tree watchtower thing! It can be way taller than the one by the front gate."

Clementine didn't know what to say. She didn't agree with AJ considering that Ericson wasn't theirs to begin with, she didn't know if it was right of them to decide on things like that. She looked to Louis and Violet for approval. 

"That sounds awesome dude!" Louis said joyfully, patting AJ's back.. "At least someone has to have faith in that shit."

AJ smiled at Louis, with his hands on his hips exactly how Louis does, "I agree."

Tenn ran up to AJ and nudged him, "Did you ask?"

"Ask what?" AJ questioned. Tenn looked at him with eyes that explained himself.

"Oh yeah!" AJ turned his head back to Louis again. "Can we paint the walls after this is done? It could be one huge painting of all of us! To make it look more like a home."

"You're killing me with all these good ideas," Louis pretended to stab himself in the heart. "That would be amazing. On the inside of the walls so we can see it all the time."

The boys nodded eagerly, turning and running to do their assigned job while chattering away about their mural. 

Clementine got up from the picnic table with her crutches and followed Omar and Louis.

"You didn't have to do that you know," Clementine said.

"Do what?" Louis asked, oblivious. 

"You know what I'm talking about Louis," Clementine said sternly.

Louis shook his head and feigned confusion, "I don't actually."

"I would have been fine thinking of something to do to help on my own."

"I know, but I wanted you here with Omar and I, you're always fun to be around," Louis said to Clementine, smiling.

Clementine shook her head and laughed. She could always count on Louis to help her feel like everything was okay. Clementine, Omar, and Louis went inside the school to survey the old supply closet for nails and hammers. As they were walking inside, Willy was leaving the building with different sizes of wood ready to use for the walls. 

"Hey, Willy!" Clementine got his attention.

"Yes Ma'am?"

"How's foot number two coming along?" she asked. 

"It's going!" Willy smiled. "I could have finished it today if it wasn't for the piece of shit wall, it should be ready for you to try on in no time."

Clementine was happy to hear his answer, "How are you planning to build it?"

"Well the supplies from St. Agnes are really gonna help out," Willy replied. "I'm gonna cut the plastic in half, melt it into half-circles, and then connect them together with the leather band. That way, you can adjust it to any fit you want and it doesn't have to be so tight! It will still look like a pirate leg, but inside the plastic there's gonna be rabbit fur and the silicone pad laying inside so it can absorb some of your weight. It's going to be fucking epic." 

Clementine laughed and smiled in appreciation, "I'm grateful for you, Willy."

"I know," Willy returned the smile. "Everyone should be thankful for me."

Clementine's chuckle at Willy's remark was cut short by Omar calling her to the side of the grand stairs on the first floor, "Clem! We found something!"

Clem crutched over to the supply closet and found the guys examining some old nails. They were rusted, and some looked like they were already used and plucked back out, but they were nails, nonetheless. Next to the nails were an old hammer and a couple of screwdrivers in different sizes. Clementine grabbed the hammer and took the screwdriver just in case, Omar and Louis grabbed the small toolbox that housed the nails. 

They walked back outside and sat at the picnic table, waiting for Aasim's call to start boarding the walls. Meanwhile, they dumped all the nails on the table and started to straighten them again for reuse. Clementine used the hammer while Omar and Louis held the nail at the edge of the table and bent them the opposite way. 

"Guys?" Clementine asked an hour into fixing the nails.

"Yeah, Clem?" Omar answered. 

"Have you seen AJ and Tenn anywhere since they left with Willy? I just realized that they weren't with Willy or anywhere close when I was talking to him."

Louis and Omar thought to themselves for a minute, trying to figure out if they'd seen them at all, but they couldn't seem to recall either. 

"I'll go find Willy again and ask him," Omar said. "I'll be back."

Omar left his post at the picnic table and went to find Willy. He saw a good amount of wood piled up close to the front gate, but none of the boys were to be found. Omar walked to the front entrance of the school.

"Willy!" he yelled.

His voice echoed inside the school building, but there was no response. He left the building and went to search inside the bell tower. He found Willy trying to find scraps of wood, but it seemed that he already cleared it. 

Omar got his attention, "Hey man, have you seen AJ or Tenn around? I thought they were supposed to be with you."

"Oh yeah, I didn't think it needed to take three of us to gather wood, so I told them I'll take care of it. I'm not a pussy, I can do this myself," Willy replied.

Omar was thrown off with Willy's choice of language, "I, didn't say you were," he huffed. "Would you happen to know where they are by any chance?"

"No," Willy answered. "They said they'd find something to do by asking you guys or helping Aasim, they said not to worry. Should I be worried?" 

"No!" Omar said. "I'll go ahead and find them."

Omar left the bell tower and walked back to the picnic table to update Clem and Louis.

"Willy was in the bell tower and he said that he told AJ and Tenn that he could handle the wood himself," Omar stated. "They went off and did something else."

"Oh shit." Clementine slammed the hammer on the table. "Where are they?"

"Willy doesn't know," Omar said. "And I haven't seen them either. It looks like you guys are almost finished up with the nails, so I'm gonna go around the perimeter and see if I can find them. If not I'll ask Aasim. I'll keep you guys updated."

"Please find them," Clementine said softly. Omar nodded, patting her shoulder.

Omar left out to the front gate and started walking the perimeter. He knew that Aasim and the two started checking the walls clockwise, so Omar started walking to the left in hopes to interrupt them. He walked a couple paces to the left on the sidewall until he saw Ruby, Aasim, and Violet in the distance. 

"Hey guys!" Omar called as he approached them.

"Hey," Ruby greeted Omar. "Is something wrong?"

"No, not really," Omar said, "I just wanted to check on you guys and ask if you happened to see AJ and Tenn together at all? Or separately. If you saw one or both of them, let me know."

"Well, we're good too, thanks for asking," Violet responded. "Despite being with these smooching fuckers all day."

"Language!" Ruby yelled at Violet. Aasim laughed with Violet, earning him a warning look from the redhead.

"But no, we haven't seen either of them," Violet told Omar. 

"Oh, no," Omar huffed.

"I'll help you find them," Violet said, becoming worried.

"Yeah, we're almost finished up with marking," Aasim said. "We'll be back inside in a couple minutes." 

"Okay, look for Clem and Louis. Let them know you're done and then you guys can start boarding up," Omar instructed.

Violet and Omar started walking into the forest, yelling out for AJ and Tenn. 

"AJ!"

"Tennessee!"

"Ugh, fuck!" Violet said in frustration, "Where are they?"

Omar shrugged and shook his head towards Violet and nudged to keep walking, "They shouldn't have gone that far."

Violet and Omar kept walking a couple more minutes into the forest. It was dead silent until they heard something move in bushes and trees in the distance. 

"AJ?" Violet asked. Violet readied her bow and arrow and Omar took out his knife. Violet and Omar crouched to a safe hiding spot behind a tree and watched the bush across from them. The noise of the bush grew louder and louder, and the movement became more apparent. 

"Tennessee if I swear to god that's you I'm going to fucking wrestle you to the ground," Violet threatened. The bush started separating into halves. Violet and Omar heard footsteps in the same direction. 

In a mere matter of seconds, AJ and Tenn popped out of the bush. They were sweating and shaking. 

"Fuck guys!" Violet and Omar yelled.

"Guys! Run!" AJ yelled at them. 

Omar and Violet's eyes started to widen at the boys' concern. As the boys met up with them, they dragged Omar and Violet's shoulders in a signal to run back. All four started running back to the school. 

"What the fuck!" Violet yelled in exhaustion. "What are running away from?" 

She stopped and put her hands on her knees, looking to the boys and waiting for an answer. The two just looked onward into the forest with frightened faces. 

"Are you guys gonna say something?" Violet pushed. 

As if in answer, the loud groan of a group of walkers sounded behind her. Her jaw fell in shock as she turned her head to see nearly 50 walkers moving huddled down the forest path. 

"Move!" She shouted, once again breaking into a run. "What in the living hell did you boys do?" 

"I'll tell you when we get home!" AJ shouted back, nearly being drowned out by the sound of the walkers approaching from behind.

Back at the school, Louis sat in the watchtower, per Clementine's request, to watch for the return of Omar and the boys. 

"Um, Clem," Louis trailed off, not looking away from the sight coming down the path to the school.

"What Louis? Spit it out," Clem asked, worriedly. 

"They're back, but um, with a herd," he stuttered. "And they're bringing it right here." 

"Fuck."


	4. Disappointment

That morning, Willy, AJ, and Tenn left the picnic table and entered the school building. They went their separate ways to find scraps of wood falling off the old building. Before the hour was over, they finished scrapping the first floor. Willy carried the collected scraps to the front gate while Tenn and AJ searched the second floor. The second floor didn’t have much, but they cleared out what was left. After they were done collecting wood from the school, they ended up with a big pile of wood that was taller than AJ himself. 

“This outta keep those fuckers out,” Willy said.

“There’s no way that they’ll get in here now,” AJ agreed. “We should keep looking for more wood though, there’s a lot more wall than we think.”

The boys walked to the deteriorated bell tower. They entered on the ground floor and saw what was left of the stairs after it collapsed. The stones were crumbled and the sun shone through in spots.

“You know this used to be my favorite place to go alone before it happened,” Willy said. “I used to make my own slingshots and fire stones past the wall.”

“I remember,” Tenn said. “I used to see the stones fire out of nowhere. I was confused, but I felt like it was either you or Mitch who did that.”

Willy started to frown when Tenn mentioned Mitch, it’s been a while since he thought of him, but it made him more determined to protect the school. 

“You know, we cleared out the school scraps pretty fast,” Willy mentioned. “I could do this on my own, I feel like it doesn’t need all three of us to just pick up some wood.”

“Are you sure?” AJ asked. “We can stay here and help you.”

WIlly shook his head, “No! I’m okay, go ahead and ask Louis or Aasim if they need any help, I should be done clearing this place out in the next couple hours.”

“Okay,” Tenn said. “If you say so, we’ll still be here if you need us.”

AJ and Tenn left Willy in the bell tower to finish with the wood. They looked around and saw Clem, Louis, and Omar working on the nails at the far right. They were all too focused on adjusting the nails for reuse. 

“I guess we should go check on them,” Tenn said as he started walking over to the picnic table.

“No!” AJ got his attention as he grabbed his shoulder. He had a mischievous look on his face, “We could do something else.”

“Like what?”

“You said you wanted to practice on some walkers,” AJ said. “And the whole reason why we’re doing this is so that they can’t get in. I could teach you how to stun and kill walkers close by. We’d be helping a lot! Killing them will clear out the walkers in the area so we’re safer.”

“Are you sure?” Tenn asks, “We shouldn’t really go out there alone.”

AJ thought for a moment to himself then answered, “It’s the best way to practice, there’ll be no one out there to save us but each other, just like it really would be.”

Tenn softly nodded his head in agreement. With the plan in mind, they passed by Clem, Louis, and Omar undetected. When they were outside, they made sure to avoid Violet and them by going the opposite way that they were walking towards. Tenn heard Aasim and Ruby’s voice to their left, so they traveled to the right. 

“We won’t go too far, but we do have to go out of the safe zone,” AJ whispered.

Tenn shuddered at the thought of going outside of it, but he knew there were no more walkers in the safe zone anymore. He didn’t want to seem like a chicken next to AJ, so he looked at him with eyes of determination. The boys continued walking straight to the right as much as they could, marking trees with their knives so they could find their way back. They knew they were out of the safe zone when they were in an area they didn’t recognize. There were no more traps Aasim set up at the area they were in.

They crouched in a bush, hidden, until they heard cracking tree branches under footsteps in the distance. AJ told Tenn to stay low as he peeked up above the bush.

“Here we go!” AJ said in excitement. “A fresh juicy walker just waiting to be killed.”

“I’m not sure if I’m ready for this,” Tenn hesitated. “What if this goes bad?”

“It won’t,” AJ reassured him. “It’s just one walker, we’ll be fine.”

“Okay, so you’re short,” AJ began. “Clem told me that until I’m taller, I have to stun the walker by the knee and then aim for the head. When you get the walker’s attention, kick it by the leg. Then once it trips, stab it in the head. Don’t worry, I’ll watch you!”

Tenn didn’t say anything in response, he was watching the walker in the distance as he was listening to AJ. He was planning out how to kill it, where he would stand, and how the walker would kneel. Tenn crouched up and left the bushes knowing he had AJ’s attention. After he left the bush, he walked up to the silent walker from behind, kicked it down by the back of it’s leg, and stabbed him in the back of the head. Tenn turned around to AJ back at the bush with excitement and glee. 

“Nice!” AJ applauded, “I knew you could do it, now come-”

Before AJ could finish his sentence, another walker came up towards Tenn in attraction to the noise the fallen walker caused.

“Get him!” AJ motioned.

Using the adrenaline the first walker gave Tenn, he killed this one with ease. Tenn turned around to AJ again seeking his approval. AJ clapped his hands and ran towards Tenn. Tenn stood in confusion of what AJ was running for, but in surprise, AJ chest bumped Tenn and caused both of them to fall on the floor. They were both hurting, but they looked across to each other and started to laugh.

AJ turned to Tenn, “I knew you could do it. It’s easy when you realize that they ain’t worth shit.”

Tenn busted out laughing on the floor, “Yeah! I guess you’re right.”

They boys laid in silence for a couple moments until they got up and started to walk back home, lingering smiles from the laughter they shared on their cheeks. They heard a few walkers in the distance behind them, but they knew that they were too fast for them to catch up.

“What do you want to paint on the walls after we put them up?” AJ asked.

“Well, I want to make it a big painting, one that everyone can contribute too. I don’t know what it’s called, but before all this I remember seeing pictures of people make paintings together, but it wasn’t finished at that time they took the photo. It took a lot of people and a lot of time, but it came out really beautiful in the end.”

AJ was unsure of what he was referring to, but agreed anyways. He always trusted Tenn’s advice in art. 

As they were walking back home, they noticed an absurd amount of walkers coming from the left and right side of them. They continued to walk faster, but the groans behind them grew louder and louder. The sheer volume started to make them anxious. 

“That doesn’t sound good,” Tenn said, his posture returning to its normal anxious hunch.

Tenn and AJ froze in shock when they turned around to a herd of walkers following them in the distance. They were far away, and slow, but they were following them back to the school.

“We need to get back home, now!” AJ said.

The walkers crept closer to the boys as they ran back towards the school. The herd grew exponentially, attracting more walkers as they continued to run back home. In panic, they started hurdling over tree logs and bushes to find a closer way back home.

The boys ran head first into a bush in their dash back to the school, rustling the bush as they fell. They heard a familiar voice call AJ’s name shortly after they collided into the thorny bed of leaves. They both quickly sprung up, attempting to get themselves out of the tangle. 

“Tennessee I swear to god if that's you I'm going to fucking wrestle you to the ground!” the voice came again, this time angrier, a clear indication it came from Violet. 

At the booming threat, the two boys quickly rose out of the bush, covered in twigs, standing in view of a startled Violet and Omar.

“Fuck guys!” they yelled.

“Guys! Run!” AJ responded, equally as urgent. The two ran at Omar and Violet, grabbing their shoulders and dragging them in the direction of the school.

As the group approached the school, Louis could be seen peeking over the watchtower. At the site of what was behind them, his eyes widened. He began motioning to and telling those in the school and entering what was approaching them.

Everyone quickly sprung into action.

Ruby and Aasim, who had just been reentering the gates, quickly turned around and began throwing rocks to the right of the school, attempting to draw at least a third of the gigantic herd. They ran in that direction as well, leading the walkers to the hunting grounds where they could be easily killed with traps.

Clementine was waiting outside the gate with bow and arrows in hand and a knife in her belt while atop the horse. As the group of four reached the walls, Violet grabbed onto the saddle and swung herself in behind Clem.

“What happened?” Clem asked, urgently.

“No time to explain, I’ll fill you in once we have this taken care of,” Violet responded. “Feel ready to be out there?”

“Yes,” Clem replied, kicking the horse to run in the opposite direction that Ruby and Aasim had gone. The loud whinny of the horse drew another large chunk of walkers to follow them. 

That left all the boys positioned at the front gate to take on what was left of the mini herd. About 20 walkers were descending upon the school. 

Omar, Tenn, and Willy stood at the gates with knives and axes, while Louis was still stationed at the watch tower with a bow and arrow. AJ joined him on the high ground, pulling out his gun.

Ruby and Aasim reached the hunting grounds, strategically banging their weapons against trees that had the freshly set traps from earlier that day. Technically, they were for catching game to eat, but could double as walker-stoppers when need be.

The two stayed silent save for making noise near specific traps. This drew the walkers right where they wanted them, 10 or so being crushed or held in place by various traps. Two even hung upside down from the trees. 

Their strategy left only a few stragglers left to kill with melee weapons, the couple taking care of them quickly before putting the trapped ones down as well. 

Ruby swiped sweat from her brow, falling into Aasim’s chest with a tired sigh. They were surrounded by bloodied walkers as they began to slowly trek home.

Violet and Clementine were heading straight for the broken bridge on the horse, Violet periodically banging together two knives to keep them following. 

The bridge came into sight, yet Clementine didn’t slow down. 

“What are you doing?” Violet exclaimed.

“Just trust me,” Clem sent a hand back to squeeze Violet’s thigh, not taking her eyes off the bridge. 

They got closer and closer to the start of the bridge, and the walkers began closing in. Clementine still did not slow down. 

“What the fuck is your plan Clementine?” Violet once again shouted, this time with more fear intertwined.

“Trust me!” Clem responded.

They approached the beginning of the bridge, Violet squeezed her eyes and buried her head into Clem’s back, sure they were about to fall to their death.

Clem, on the other hand, tapped the horse twice with her foot, signaling it to jump the gap in the bridge.

Just on time, the horse sprang, clearing the hole and skidding to a stop before the truck blocking the rest of the way. 

Violet popped up and opened her eyes.

“I’m alive,” she said in disbelief.

“Yes, and look,” Clem pointed to the gap. Walkers were falling through the gap and down into the rapids of the river. The sheet momentum they had built up sent them all careening down. 

Violet broke out in a laugh.

“That was-“ Violet began, before realizing she was too loud. “That was amazing Clementine, I thought you were going to kill us. What made you think of that?”

“Last time we were here,” Clem motioned to the bridge. “Before we met up, AJ, Tenn, James and I got stuck in a cave. We got across a rapid river on a log. It broke, and the walkers still tried to cross to get to us. They didn’t realize the water would carry them away. I hoped the same would happen here.”

“And what if it didn’t work?” Violet questioned.

“Then I have a Plan B to Z on ‘How to get Rid of Herds” up in here.” Clementine tapped her head.

Violet laughed and hugged Clem from behind, sitting there in a peaceful moment after the chaos that had just ensued. After a minute, the two began to head home, the horse clearing the gap once again.

Back at the school, the remaining walkers had breached the gate, pushing in on the walls as they attempted to funnel in. The boys on the ground stabbed and stomped as many as they could while Louis and AJ shot from above. Soon enough, the last of them were dead.

Louis has never felt this exhausted since the shipwreck. He remembers that the raiders did great damage to their home, after bursting in from the front gate and the damage from the fire. He looked around and realized that walkers can do far greater damage than people. He looked around in agony seeing that his home now looked like a walker graveyard. 

After scoping around the courtyard, Louis sat at the picnic table to take a breath. He kept his head down to make sure he couldn’t see AJ or Tenn with eye contact. Willy and Omar sat at the same picnic table with Louis, as it was the only one that didn’t have walker blood on it. They tried to speak to him, but he didn’t reply. Omar and Willy weren’t sure of what to do, Louis was always the one to make people feel better, not the other way around.

AJ and Tenn stood by the front gate to double check if there were any more walkers, Tenn offered to do watch and yell when the rest got back. AJ let him, but wished he could join so he didn’t need to talk to Louis, or Willy. He was scared of what they were going to say. The mood in the atmosphere was the same one that he felt after he killed Marlon. Even though he hated it, he knew what he had to do.

AJ walked up to Louis, scared of getting his attention, “Louis?”

“What!” Louis snapped at him.

AJ’s eyes started to dew, “I- I’m sorry, I only wanted to teach Tenn how to kill walkers, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“Of course,” Louis said in anger, “Of course you don’t mean to do any of this, just like how you didn’t mean to kill-”

Louis stopped himself from mentioning AJ’s past mistake, knowing that it wouldn’t help anything. 

“You need to realize that you are still little, and just a kid,” Louis said sternly, “If you wanted to do that, you could have asked Clem, or me, or Omar. There is no excuse for what you did. You have to own up to it. I’ll get over it, but I’m not sure about everyone else.” He nudged towards Omar and Willy behind him.

“They’re back!” Tenn yelled.

Omar and Willy ran to the front gate to allow the rest of the group back inside. They were clean, but exhausted. The group looked at the courtyard as they were walking in. Ruby was almost full of tears. The group grew frowns on their faces as they faced walkers and their blood inside their home. 

“We should clean out the courtyard,” Aasim said, “There’s a big ditch that we came across while walking the perimeter, we can put them there.” 

The group didn’t respond, but they seemed to get the message as they all started to pick up walkers and drag them out. After the first hour, the courtyard was barely clean. It took almost half the night to clean up the bodies. 

Clem had just finished wiping off the last bloody picnic table with cloths from the old gymnasium and sat on the steps of the school. It was a stark night. She sat with her head laid back against a column, letting out a labored breath and closing her eyes. Violet had told Clementine the story of what happened while she helped her retrieve the cloths for cleaning. Clem was in disbelief when she heard what AJ did. She hadn’t raised him to kill walkers for sport, to be so loud as to draw a herd to their home.

AJ approached Clem, head hung down. The patter of his footsteps alerted Clem of his presence. She opened her eyes and sighed.

“You’re mad,” The boy said.

“I’m not mad AJ,” she put her head in her hands and rubbed her eyes. “I’m disappointed.”

“I’m sor-“ he began.

“No AJ, what you did was irresponsible,” Clem started in a stern tone. AJ didn’t hear her like that often. “You know better, I taught you better. You can’t just say sorry and expect everything to be better. You need to prove to me- to everyone- that you can be responsible.” 

AJ frowned. Clementine wasn’t looking at him.

“Just go to our room, we’ll talk about this in the morning. Don’t even think about joining someone for watch tonight,” Clem said, finally looking AJ in the eye.

“But-“ he began.

“Alvin Junior. Go,” Clem demanded.

AJ nodded and walked away. He walked inside the building with heavy shoulders. Before AJ entered his room, he saw Tenn inside walking in the hall.

“Tenn,” AJ started, “I taught you how to kill walkers, that’s step one and not even the worst of it. Now, we have to atone.”

Tenn stopped himself from walking further into the hall to hear AJ. He didn’t look back at him, but he nodded with his head down as he entered his room. AJ entered his room alone, and went to bed. He counted the stars outside the window to help him sleep. They twinkled in a particular way that night, as if all focused on him. He was scared, and sad. Usually, Clememtine would be across from him. He’d walk up to her and ask to lay with her when he was scared, but AJ had to do this on his own tonight. It was something that he had to get used to growing up. He never thought growing up would be this lonely.

Being on his own was something he always thought he’d like. That’s why he got Clem to trust him with the hard decisions. But after Clementine almost turned in the barn, he thought otherwise. Clementine was with him when he had to apologize to everyone about killing Marlon. More so, she was there when AJ apologized and made friends with the new strangers their first day at Ericson. But now, AJ had to apologize to everyone, including Clementine. 

AJ noticed he was in his head, panicking. He remembered that when he gets scared, or panics, to never let it get to him, just like Clementine said. AJ turned to his side facing Clem’s bed. His eyes focused on Disco Broccoli, who he had left besides Clem’s bed yesterday morning. Quickly, AJ plopped off his bed, retrieved the toy, and snuggled back into his blankets, drifting into slumber not long after.


	5. Apologies

AJ woke up abruptly to an uncomfortable position as Disco Broccoli was pushing against his chest as he was laying on his stomach. He pushed Disco Broccoli away, towards where he kept Beet Nick and Calypso Cauliflower. He tried to go back to sleep, flipping side to side on his mattress. After a lot of turns, he was unsuccessful. 

He laid facing up to the top bunk, "I am really, really, not looking forward to this," he thought.

He turned towards Clem's side and saw her sleeping with her back towards him. He realized that he didn't know when Clem went back to their room, and he knew she slept late as it is. He thought that she waited until he knew he was asleep on purpose, or that she cleaned up more in the courtyard. Either way, he felt terrible. 

AJ got up from his bed and tidied it, making sure that Clementine couldn't get mad at him for anything else. Before walking out of the dorm, he checked to see who was outside. By the time he usually woke up, Omar was already cooking breakfast for the group and Louis was singing who knows what. He peeked outside the window to see that no one was outside. The sun was barely showing.

AJ saw the partially fallen wall by the front gate, and the dried walker blood on the floor and tables. He shut his eyes and cringed remembering what he did. He already knew, but seeing everything again made it worse. He turned his head to Clementine, and then back outside, thinking about how terrible this day was going to be for him. 

He stared outside for a long time, AJ thought he even forgot to blink, until he came up with an idea. "Holy shit!" he thought. 

He walked to the door and shut it slowly so as to not wake up Clementine. He then walked down the hallway, making sure his steps didn't make any creaking noises and made it to Tenn's room. 

He knocked, "Tenn?"

Hearing no response, he opened the door to see Tenn sleeping on his bed. He realized he'd never been inside Tenn's room before. It had his drawings all over the wall, he thought it was beautiful over the bland, grey walls. He noticed that Tenn tucked all of the drawings that had Minnie on it to a small corner on the right wall, they were still hung up, but AJ thought it was odd.

"Tenn?" AJ shook him by the arm. "Tenn!"

"Ahh!" Tenn screamed. "Who is it!"

AJ lunged back from a hostile Tenn. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh," he started to calm down. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," AJ started. "But I have an idea."

"No," Tenn refused. "Not again. I am not going with you on one of your stupid ideas."

"This one is good!" AJ said in excitement. "It's going to make everyone feel better. We're going to atone."

Tenn hesitated for a moment, then turned to AJ, "How do you think we're going to do that?"

AJ motioned him to follow outside of his room and into the courtyard. Tenn didn't realize that it was barely morning. 

"What is your plan?" Tenn asked. 

AJ looked around the courtyard, "We're gonna clean this up, and start boarding the walls, and putting back up the bricks, just like we were supposed to." 

Tenn was very tired, he never woke up this early before and was ready to tell AJ "No", and go back to bed. However, he couldn't resist that the idea was good, and he knew that it was his fault too. 

"Ugh," Tenn shook his head. "Okay."

AJ started jumping in excitement, "Yay!"

"Don't say 'Yay,'" Tenn deadpanned.

AJ stopped jumping and whispered, "yay."

He and Tenn walked over to the clean picnic table and noticed that Clem, Omar, and Louis left all the nails and the hammer on the picnic table before they were interrupted. AJ put them back in the toolbox and carried them over to the front gate. 

"We'll start here," AJ said. "We'll start boarding up the walls."

"Okay but," Tenn started looking at the bloody remains of the courtyard and turned to AJ. "This place still will look like shit." 

"Uhm," AJ continued to think, "I'll clean up the rest of what's left of the blood in the courtyard, and you start boarding."

"Yeah, okay," Tenn sleepily nodded. 

Tenn and AJ separated at the front gate. Tenn started boarding up the walls at the places Aasim put old wadded up pieces of paper. He picked out the paper thinking that it would be of good use again and started to use the flat planks. AJ was behind him, getting the old rags Clementine and Violet used last night to clean the walker blood and soaked them in the bucket of water they had used last night. The bucket was basically full of blood at this point, but it rinsed out the rags enough. 

AJ and Tenn grew very tired, and hungry. It seemed like forever that they have been cleaning, but still not much has been fixed. They looked up at the sun to see if time was passing at all, gauging when the rest of the group would wake up, but it felt like it was in the same position when they started. 

It felt like hours had gone by for the boys, Tenn was finishing up the half of the front wall and started working on the left sidewall. It was much bigger than the first wall he worked on, but he knew there'd be no good in stopping. Tenn turned to see AJ had made a lot of progress on the floors, he barely saw any walker blood anymore. 

As AJ was finishing up on the floor of the courtyard, his stomach began to grumble, "Ugh."

"What is it?" Tenn asked. 

"I'm so fucking hungry," AJ complained. 

"Me too," Tenn agreed.

"I'm gonna go out and hunt at the stream," AJ offered. "You stay here and clean up what you can alone." 

He looked toward the sun for what seemed like the hundredth time, it actually looked like it was making some distance up the horizon. 

"I really hope they'll be up soon," AJ said, as he left the school and headed to the stream. 

He arrived at the stream, retrieving the spear and bucket from the shack and started to hunt. He noticed that there was a lot of fish at this particular time of the day, he noted that it might be good to tell the others about it. Despite there being a lot of them, they were too fast for him.

"Fuck!" AJ missed again. 

A good amount of time passed and he caught three fish. He decided he was over it. He dropped off the spears and carried the bucket of fish back to the school.

Tenn heard the gate open and saw AJ walk back inside, "That didn't take long."

"Really?" AJ questioned. "It felt like forever to me."

The boys walked over to the rotisserie where Omar usually cooked all the food and placed it down. AJ felt too hungry to wait for Omar to wake up and start cooking. 

"I'll just cook breakfast today," AJ offered.

Tenn immediately stepped in front of AJ, blocking him from the rotisserie, "Dude, you don't know how to cook."

"It's just some fire and putting the fish in the pot," AJ said. "How hard can it be?"

He nudged Tenn over and started to ignite the fire with some flint in his pocket and the stick. He ignited the fire and put the fish inside.

"Go ahead and finish up cleaning," AJ told Tenn. "I'll let you know when it's ready."

"Whatever you say," Tenn walked back to the cloths and cleaned up the last bloody picnic table.

It was a couple of minutes into cooking when AJ realized that he really didn't know what he was doing. AJ looked down intensely at the three fish laying in the pot as if their eyes were looking right back at him. He took out the fish and noticed that they weren't really cooking, at least how Omar cooks them. AJ thought of an alternative. He grabbed three thin sticks and punctured one through each of the fish. He took away the pot that Omar usually cooks the fish in and laid the fish on top of the rotisserie line. He noticed that the bottom of the fish was starting to cook and brown, he flipped them when he thought necessary. 

AJ left the fish to cook and gave Tenn a thumbs up for finishing what they could. They had a feeling by the position of the sun that the group was going to wake up soon. AJ grabbed the bowls from the school and started preparing the picnic table. He walked back to the fish roasting and declared them as finished. He put out the fire and carried the three fish over to the table. He washed up his knife in the leftover water the fish carried with them in the bucket and started cutting them and placing equal amounts in the bowls.

The sun was positioned right over the trees in the distance, the light creating a shadow. Then the sun glared inside the window and directly over to Clementine's eyes, causing her to wake.

Clementine put her pillow above her head, trying to mimic the dark to fall asleep again, but she knew she had to get up. She turned to her side and saw that AJ wasn't in his bed. 

"Oh, I swear to god," Clementine racked up a lot of energy from her anger, got her crutches, and exited her dorm.

"Oh!" Aasim and Omar turned to the hallways Clem's door was in. "You're finally up early."

"AJ isn't in the room," Clementine looked at the two boys with urgency. Omar followed her outside while Aasim continued to wake up everyone else at a faster pace.

"AJ!" Clementine yelled as she barged outside the school building. 

"Yes?" AJ turned to her from the picnic table as he was cutting the last fish. 

Clementine saw AJ and glared at him with a stern look until she caught eye of the entire courtyard. The floor looked spotless, and the picnic tables looked clean, despite some bloody streaks that she saw. She turned her head up and saw the broken bricks of the wall put back up, and the left side of the wall nicely boarded. She saw Tenn by the front gate, putting away the nails he had yet to use and the hammer. 

Clementine was speechless, and so was Omar. They walked at a slow pace, admiring the place as it now used to look before, and maybe even better. She heard footsteps of the rest of her friends walking out of the front doors and gasping. They were in awe of how the place looked. Everyone walked to the picnic bench where AJ had set his plate of roasted fish and sat, AJ trailing behind beside Clementine. 

"AJ this is really thoughtful, I'm proud," Clem began. "But you still need to apologize to everyone in person. I'm sorry I yelled at you last night, I was just stressed. We all were stressed. I think everyone will appreciate hearing you admit what you did wrong."

"I know, already planning on it," AJ sheepishly smiled up to Clementine. "And I wanted to start with you. You're right, I do know better. I guess I just got too comfortable, now that we have a home and all. I promise. I'll be more responsible from now on. I thought that if I cleaned up a little bit though, that it would make everyone feel better."

AJ held up his pinky to Clementine. She took it on her own, squeezing it tight. The two smiled at each other. Clementine gave a warm, tight embrace to AJ, it made him feel relieved.

They reached the table and sat down with the rest of the group.

By the looks of the crispy morsels on the table, they were more charred then roasted, the skin black and bubbly. The smell hit each kid like a brick, causing them to grimace. They quickly fixed their faces though, not wanting to hurt AJ.

"I wanted to take over cooking duty today," AJ gestured to his fish. Everyone was staring at them in a subtle type of horror. "Dig in!" 

After a few minutes of silent eating, Tenn and AJ beckoned Willy, who was sitting across the table from them.

"Hey, Willy?" AJ said. Willy looked up to meet the two boys' eyes.

"We're sorry," Tenn began. "For bringing the walkers here and letting them mess everything up."

Willy smiled, "It's okay guys, I'm not mad. Things happen, and besides, it was cool to get to smash some walker brains again."

The boys nodded, their confidence boosted at their first apology going well.

Everyone had finished eating quickly. Scarfing down the fish made it more bearable. They all dispersed across the courtyard.

AJ and Tenn followed Louis as he left the table. 

"Hey Louis?" the boys said simultaneously.

"What's up?" Louis turned to them and responded, lacking its usual light.

"We, um, wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday," Tenn began.

"We realize now that it was irresponsible and dangerous, and we promise never to do anything like it again," AJ finished.

Louis sighed heavy, running his hand through his hair, "It's okay bud." 

Louis tried to pull a small smile to his lips to reassure the boys before he turned and proceeded.

Once he was far enough away, Tenn leaned to AJ and asked, "Did that go okay?"

"Mhm," AJ reassured. "Atonement takes time. That's what Clem says."

Tenn nodded.

The two proceeded back to the picnic table where Omar, Ruby, and Aasim sat. Rosie sat below the table, eating leftovers of the fish; she didn't mind the burnt flavor. 

The boys slipped themselves onto the bench across from the other three.

"Hey guys," AJ began. "We want to apologize."

"We're sorry we went out beyond the safe zone alone and brought all those walkers here," Tenn continued. 

"You're kids, you learn by doin'. At least we got 'em all," Ruby said. 

"Just be more thoughtful next time," Aasim added. Omar nodded in agreement.

"We will," Tenn nodded. 

The two boys took off from the picnic table. AJ set his eyes on the last person he needed to apologize to.

"This one's important Tenn," he said.

"Why is Violet so important?" Tenn questioned.

"Because Clem likes her, and if Violet doesn't like me then Clem can't like her," AJ said. "And that would be bad because Clem deserves having someone she likes. Clem told me Violet's my mom now."

Tenn looked at him confused, eyes squinting. He doesn't recall when Violet started to take him as her own, but he didn't question it.

With that, the boys headed to the steps where Clementine and Violet sat, talking.

AJ approached, hand clasped in front of him and head down. 

"Violet?" AJ said, softly.

"Yes, AJ?" Violet responded, somewhat confused at AJ's sense of solemnness. 

"I am sorry, for putting everyone in danger," AJ began, being cautious to speak clearly. "I know better, Clementine has taught me better. We shouldn't have gone out alone and did what we did. It was a stupid thing to do."

AJ held out a pinky to Violet.

"I promise you, that I will be more responsible, and think before I do," AJ finalized, looking into Violet's eyes.

Violet had a confused look on her face, slowly lifting her pinky to AJ's, loosely intertwining it. 

"Thank you," AJ nodded, still overly serious. "I hope to never disappoint you again."

With that, the boy began walking backward, not bringing his pinky down until he turned away. Tenn looked equally as confused as the two girls, squeaking out a "sorry," before running after AJ. 

Clem began to crack up, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. She hoped to stifle the laugh so AJ couldn't hear. She didn't want him to think she thought his apology was laughable.

"Why was that so... weird?" Violet looked to Clem and asked, one eyebrow raised. 

"Oh my god," Clem caught her breath. "The other morning, after you slept over, AJ crawled into bed with me and was asking all these questions."

Clem lifted herself to face Violet more, putting her hand on the blonde's knee while she recounted the story.

"He first asked if you slept over because you were scared," Clem continued. "And I said no, she slept over because we like each other's company. And then he asked if we were 'really together' yet."

Clem paused, cheeks turning scarlet. Violet smiled too, tucking a hair behind Clem's ear and beckoning her to continue the story. 

"Anyway, he then asked if since me and you are a thing, does that make you a mom figure," Clem nervously laughed out. Violet raised an eyebrow in amusement, both at the story and the flustered girl in front of her. "And so I said, well, you have to respect her and listen to her. He kept pushing for a direct answer, so I ended up saying yes. And I guess he took that to heart." 

Clem was smiling sheepishly as she looked up to Violet. The blonde smiled. 

"Who said we were a thing?" Violet teased. Clem's eyes widened, her mouth opening and closing like a fish trying to find words.

"Clemmy I'm kidding," Violet giggled. "That's cute that he asked that. Y'know, I'm not surprised he did. He didn't have parents, he only ever had you. So I guess he associates anybody like you to be a parent to him." 

"I never thought about it that way," Clem said thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess he doesn't know what a parent is. I never really taught him that as a vocabulary word. I just told him that I was kind of like a mom." 

"Well, I'd be honored to be like a mom to him," Violet smiled, clasping her hand into the one Clem had placed on her knee. "And about that official thing, what do you think?" 

"I think I like that idea," Clem smirked. "It just feels so weird to do something so mundane as dating after the past few months we've had." 

"Who said it had to be mundane?" Violet questioned with a smile. "We're walker-fighting, apocalypse-surviving girlfriends, not any of that mushy crap." 

"Well, what if I want some of that mushy crap?" Clem asked, big-eyed.

"Well, we can have some of that mushy crap," Violet winked, pulling Clem into a kiss. "Anything my girlfriend wants."

Clementine blushed, becoming even more flustered. 

"I like the way that sounds," Clem smiled once more, setting her head to rest of Violet's, reveling in the sweetness of the moment.


	6. A Foot Up

The rest of the day contrasted the preceding. The air sat calm, laying on the school like a light blanket.

Louis and Omar finished the patchwork on the walls at a comfortable pace, chatting as they went. Ruby and Aasim went out hunting, catching a wild turkey. The redhead mentioned that fall was coming as the two arrived back to the school with their catch. She remembered learning somewhere that the turkeys are more active at the beginning of autumn, something about the babies hatching around that time. 

AJ and Tenn had laid out art supplies on the grass, practicing ideas for their mural. Not long after the sun hit midday though, the two were napping, crayons in hand as the soil acted as a soft bed. 

Clementine and Violet had escaped to the greenhouse. The girls said they were going to tend to the beanstalks and tomato plants, but everyone knew they wanted some time away from the group. Kissing in front of the Ericson kids usually garnered giggles and snide taunts. No one could blame Vi and Clem for wanting a little privacy. 

The afternoon progressed to evening. Omar cooked up the turkey, making half into a stew and smoking the other half over the smouldering remains of the cooking fire. He had lately begun to experiment with ways to preserve the meat they had, so that so much didn’t go to waste. 

Clementine shook the boys awake for dinner, leading them to the table just as everyone else gathered in front of their bowls. The group dug in, sounds of happy slurping and light conversation ringing about the table.

In Clem’s mind, she declared that this turkey stew definitely took the number two spot on Omar’s cooking scale. It didn’t beat the fish he cooked, the way the flavor of it reminded her of her parents old cooking, but it made her feel warm nonetheless. 

“I propose we play campfire games tonight,” Louis spoke up, smiling and nudging Violet who was next to him. “We haven’t played anything like that since before the raiders. It’d be a nice throwback.”

“What game?” Clem inquired.

“How about some truth or dare?” Ruby pitched. 

“Oh, yes, I like the sound of that,” Louis responded, excitedly drumming his fingers together in a mischievous fashion.

Violet rolled her eyes and fake gagged in response.

“Last time we played Clem said she’d flip James and Aasim kissed a walker head,” she said. Aasim shivered in response to the reminder of his previous date. 

“Exactly, that’s fun,” Louis shrugged. “All of us, campfire, sunset.”

Everyone finished their bowls of stew shortly after the conversation and then headed to set up the campfire. They placed couches and chairs surrounding it, all plopping down just as dusk began to fall. The only person missing was Willy, who had scurried back into the school after dinner. 

Louis sat in one chair, shuffling the cards, “You guys know the rules, highest card asks lowest.”

He pulled a card for himself and then passed off the deck to the left. Everyone took a look at their card.

“And I win!” Clementine said happily, lifting herself from where she had her head lying in Violet’s lap. “Who’s my first victim?”

“Me! Me!” AJ rang out, holding up his two of hearts. 

Clementine leaned forward on her knees, head in hands, thinking.

“AJ, truth,” she began, smiling. “What’s the most annoying thing I’ve done while raising you?” 

“Oh, easy!” AJ started, slapping his hands on his legs. “You taught me how to read out of food magazines. Like the ones with the pictures and everything. I know more about recipes than actual reading itself.”

Little giggles came from the group at the expression in AJ’s voice.

“Now that’s just mean,” Louis jokingly shook his head and scolded. 

“I’m sorry Goofball, I worked with what I could find,” Clementine smiled at him.

“It’s okay, I can read!,” AJ smiled simply.

Louis once again passed around the deck, everyone flipping their cards. 

“I win!” Tenn cheered, presenting an Ace of spades. 

Omar showed his losing card.

“Okay… Omar, I dare you too…” Tenn trailed off in thought. “Hmmm, hang upside down in your chair for a round.”

“Now that was lame bro,” AJ leaned to him.

“I couldn’t think of anything else,” Tenn shrugged. He then pointed to Omar, “Do it.”

Omar chuckled as he flipped himself upside down, “Happy?” 

Louis handed the stack to pass around to the upside down Omar. Omar took one and passed the pile, visibly finding trouble in orientating himself to read the card. His head went light as the blood circulation focused on his head. The sight of him brought laughs from about the circle. 

“Victory Violet!” Violet cheered. Clementine high-fived her before planting a kiss on her cheek.

“I guess you could say, Loser Louis,” Louis responded with a feigned sense of dejection.

“Since you’re always the one to ask these types of questions, Louis, I’m gonna hit you with one too,” Violet said, smirking. “Ever liked anyone here right now, at any point in time? And who?” 

Louis’s eyes widened with a taste of his own medicine. Everyone always groaned with discomfort when he asked these things, but now he was on the receiving side. 

“Well, um,” he stuttered out.

“Lay it on us Lou,” Violet encouraged, leaning back in her seat.

“Yes, I have in fact liked someone in this circle,” Louis stated. “And because I’m no pansy I’ll say who.”

Violet gestured for him to go on.

“I liked Clem when she first got here,” he shrugged. “Long time ago now. Not like you didn’t have a crush on her too, Violet.”

“Fair,” she answered nodding, placing a hand protectively on Clem’s thigh. 

Clementine was wide eyed and giggling.

“Wasn’t much of a secret Louis, you’re not good at hiding things,” Clementine chuckled. Violet looked at her girlfriend’s smile and tried to lift her cheeks once again too. 

“Well, I do wear my heart on my sleeve,” Louis remarked, passing around the deck.

Ruby drew her card, holding up the lowest. Louis flaunted his King of Clubs.

“Ruby, I dare you tell one thing you dislike about Aasim,” Louis smirked. 

Ruby pulled away from the arm Aasim had around her briefly to take a look at his face. She grabbed his chin and moved his head around a little, causing him to laugh. Ruby nodded as if she had come to a conclusion.

“He smells like shit.”

Everyone erupted into laughter at the way she said it.

“We all smell like shit!” Aasim defended.

“But you’re the one I’m datin’,” Ruby chuckled as she nuzzled back into his side, placing a kiss on his chin. 

The next round of cards began to be passed around before a loud interruption. 

“Guys!” came a shout from Willy running at them, an object in hand.

Everyone popped up, alerted at the sudden shout. 

Willy arrived and stood at the edge of the circle. He triumphantly held out a prosthetic leg.

“Clem! Look what I finished!” he beamed. Everyone broke out in smiles and woots. Clementine, though, nearly had tears flooding from her amber eyes. 

“Willy, thank you,” she said, smiling from ear to ear. 

“Try it on!” came his response. He carefully laid the contraption onto Clementine’s lap, laying down a silicone sock as well. 

“That goes on your thigh so it’s like a cushion,” Willy instructed, watching Violet help to pull the sleeve onto Clem’s leg. 

“And for the rest of it, I put rabbit fur on the inside so the part that is touching your leg won’t scratch,” Willy continued. “That upper part is plastic. And there’s adjustable straps so it doesn’t squeeze your leg so much.” 

Willy kneeled down to point out the different parts while Clem pulled it on. She saw a lot of was built with leftover glue from supplies in the school and the nails from the toolbox. Her leg fit perfectly snug with the silicone sock. She tightened the straps to her liking, feeling the soft fur that lined the inside of them. 

“Help me stand?” she asked Violet. The blonde obliged, standing and putting an arm out.

“The moment we’ve all been waiting for!” Willy trailed off as Clem stood, hoping this second one would be his best.

Clementine stood straight, carefully balancing her weight as she held onto Violet’s outstretched arm. Once she felt stable, she let go.

She stood, on her own, two ‘feet’ planted to the ground. An even larger smile erupted across her features. 

Clem once again took Violet's hand and took a small step, then another and another. She attempted to let go but Violet held on.

“Let me,” Clem whispered. Violet nodded, proud. 

With that, Clementine took her first steps on her own since the day she thought she would die. 

The group erupted in claps. Aasim lifted Willy onto his shoulders. AJ ran and enveloped Violet in a hug. It felt monumentous. 

Clementine turned around to see the happiness on all of her friend’s faces. At that moment, she didn’t feel like a burden. She knew, deep inside her, these people loved her. She knew she was home. She was more than happy and excited to have a pair of legs, she’ll be able to do more than she has been for a while.

After ample celebration and a few victory laps around the fire by Clem, everyone began their journey to their rooms. The moon sat high in the sky. 

Clementine kissed AJ’s forehead and waved as he headed to bed. She wasn’t quite tired yet.

“Violet?” she asked, grabbing the girl’s hand before she could walk away. Violet turned around to look at Clem.

“Yes?” Violet answered softly.

“Wanna look at the stars with me?” Clementine asked shyly, a blush blooming on her face camouflaged by the dark of night.

“Of course Clemmy,” Violet smiled back, clasping Clem’s hand in hers as they walked toward the bell tower. “Are you alright to climb?”

Clem nodded, “Let me go first, in case I lose my footing.”

Violet nodded, watching as the brunette climbed. 

‘Give a girl a leg and she can do anything,’ Violet thought. She was impressed at how fast Clem was becoming used to the new leg. Willy added a hinge on the foot so it could move and attached rubber to the bottom for traction. She was proud Willy was able to build something like this when the world was shit, she thought. She almost felt sad about that thought, as she knew Willy could do many bright things if the world was normal.

Violet began to follow up the wall. They reached the top with no complications. 

“And you doubted me,” Clem playfully chastised.

“Never,” Violet responded, stepping to Clementine and snaking her hands around her waist. Clem responded by putting her arms around the blonde’s shoulders, laying her head down soft into the crook of her neck.

The two swayed on the balcony of the bell tower, crisp air enveloping them in a cool hug. They stayed like that awhile, soaking in the peace.

“Vi?” Clem spoke after a while, her eyes welling up for the second time that night. She lifted her to look into Violet’s eyes. “I thought I’d never be able to do this again.” 

“Hey,” Violet cooed, wiping a tear that escaped. “I remember the first night you were awake after your car crash, we played that game of war. I asked you who would die first and you said ‘anyone but me.’ You were so sure, you said you had made it that far. From the beginning you’ve always had that stubborn, persevent attitude. I knew we’d dance again Clem, I knew you’d find a way.” 

Clementine’s cheeks grew red and she smiled. She lifted a hand to caress Violet’s cheek, squeezing it lightly. She let her hand trail down to intertwine with Violet’s. She led her to the ledge they sat on to watch the stars. 

The two sat side by side, Violet letting her head fall onto Clementine’s shoulder. 

“I see a mountain,” Clem observed, pointing to the sky. “Stubborn, strong-willed, and proud.”

“You just described yourself weirdo,” Violet chuckled, squeezing Clem’s hand. 

“Kenny too,” Clem thought out loud. 

“Do you miss them? Your old groups?” Violet asked, flitting her eyes up to examine her girlfriend’s face.

“Mhm, sometimes,” Clem said. “I don’t miss the instability, the running, the inconsistency. The people were family, but there was no home. This is home, this is what I’ve been searching for.” 

Violet nodded. 

“I see...” Clem began after a pause. “An arrow.”

“Straightforward, quick-witted, and light-hearted,” Violet listed.

“Louis,” Clem stated. 

“You know, I wasn’t expecting him to say you earlier during truth or dare,” Violet said. 

“It was me, you, or ruby,” Clem laughed lightheartedly.

“Or a guy,” Violet chimed.

“Or a guy,” Clem repeated. “But honestly Vi, you didn’t pick up on how he was during my first weeks at Ericson- er, Texas Two?” 

“No I didn’t,” Violet admitted. “I guess I didn’t notice because he’s always so annoying and talkative. Also, I’m starting to rethink Texas Two.”

“Or maybe you were too busy crushing on me too,” Clem giggled, lightly rubbing the blonde’s thigh. “And I agree, doesn’t roll off the tongue.”

“Yeah you’re probably right,” Violet laughed too. “I don’t think I realized it at first. I hadn’t allowed myself to feel since… Minnie, but something about you just changed that.”

“If you don’t mind me asking Vi, what happened with her, before she was... gone?” Clem asked timidly.

“I want this to stay sweet right now, I promise I’ll tell you another time though. It wasn’t good between me and her. I don’t wanna think about that right now,” Violet admitted. Clementine nodded and kissed Violet’s forehead, almost as an apology for bringing it up.

“That’s a leaf,” Violet pointed to the sky. “Free, adventurous, willing.” 

“Willy,” Clem suggested.

“You’re kinda right,” Violet furrowed her brow.

“You pointing out the leaf and Ruby saying that fall is coming earlier today reminds me,” Clem began. “I think my birthday is soon. It was always when the leaves began to fall from the trees and the ground was orange. My parents would call it Clementine’s Time.” 

“That’s cute,” Violet shyly smiled. “How old do you think you are?”

“I’ve lost count, but I think 17 or 18. Yeah, somewhere around there,” Clem scrunched up her brow. “When was your birthday?”

“In the middle of spring, May,” Violet explained. “April showers bring May flowers, hence the name Violet.”

“Clever,” Clem commented.

“More like lazy, but whatever,” Violet retorted.

“I like your name,” Clem looked into the blonde’s eyes. She leaned in to kiss her soft. “You’re delicate like a flower when you wanna be. Robust when you need to.”

Violet simply smiled and kissed her again. The forest canopy below sat in silence save for the wind rustling the leaves. 

Not much happened in the forest around the school, especially with the establishment of the safe zone. Most of the time, walkers were sparse due to the school’s extermination efforts. Animals flitted through the woods, spiders clung to trees, and birds sat in their nests. 

This general ‘normalness’ of the woods around their home comforted the group. They felt safe within their walls, safe within their forested fortress. 

When Marlon was still in charge, they were very careful to try and leave the outer bits of the woods untouched. Any signs of life outside the safe zone could lead people to them, could result in more situations like with the twins. After he died though, those rules faded without thought.

If Marlon was right about one thing, though, it was hiding meant safety. 

Now the group was less cautious. They marked trees with knives to find their way home and set traps outside the marked hunting grounds. They left foot tracks through the mud leading back to the school and left school grounds for nonessential purposes. No one paid mind to the dangers it may pose; to the dangers it may bring. 

Everyone slept peacefully inside the school, unknowing to what danger disturbed their forest that night that followed the knife grooves on trees and upside down walkers.


	7. An Unexpected Guest

Violet yawned as she woke. Clementine’s arm laid across her middle, and the girls’ legs were tangled together. The blonde smiled at the feeling of Clem’s body with hers.

The night before they had sat atop the bell tower, pointing out constellations and dancing. Thinking about it sprung bubbles in Violet’s stomach.

After a few minutes of enjoying the warmth of Clem’s bed and the memories from the prior night, Violet began to slowly untangle herself so she wouldn’t wake Clem up. Vi had a mission. 

Clementine had mentioned her birthday was around this time of year. Plus, the school had been relatively peaceful lately after the herd; what better time for an impromptu surprise birthday? 

The Ericson kids always tried to give a nod toward birthdays to keep a sense of normalcy. Clem never had that tradition while she was on the move, so Violet wanted to give her that. 

Violet slowly walked to AJ, waking him in the way Clem had taught her so he wouldn’t be scared. 

“Violet?” AJ groggily asked as he rubbed his eyes.

“Hey kid, wake up, we’re gonna plan something,” Violet smiled. AJ nodded and slipped out of bed.

“What about Clem?” he questioned.

“Shh, the plan’s for her, come on,” Violet motioned for the boy to follow as she crept out the room. The two squeezed out the door, closing the door without a creak.

The two walked to the courtyard where everyone else was already up and about. 

“Guys! Come here!” Violet called to the others as she reached the center picnic table.

“What is it Vi?” Ruby inquired, followed by similar murmurs from everyone else.

“I have a plan,” Violet smirked, placing her hands on the table. “I wanna throw Clementine a surprise birthday party. She said hers is around this time of year, and she hasn’t even thought about it since the old days, and-“

“I love it!” Louis exclaimed, in interrupting her.

“We’re on board,” Omar smiled and nodded as everyone else joined in. 

“Okay,” Violet smiled, very happy at the reactions of her friends. “So I was thinking we all have a different job to prepare, and someone will distract her till tonight when everything’s ready.”

“Ruby and Tenn, could you do decorations? I’m thinking for the main color to be orange,” Violet continued. “And Omar? Clementine loved your fish, do you think you could make some for dinner?”

The three in question nodded. Tenn began lightly chatting with Ruby about the banners he could make. 

“And Louis, could you come up with some games to play? Some entertainment?” Violet inquired, turning to him. He nodded excitedly. “Aasim and Willy keep watch at the front of the building while everything is set up.”

“But what about Clem? What’re we gonna do with her?” Willy piped in.

“AJ is gonna distract her,” Violet explained as she turned to AJ and kneeled down to his level. “Could you bring her to the fishing shack and tell her we need more spears? Spend the day making some?” 

“Of course!” AJ smiled ear to ear. Everyone dispersed to begin their tasks.

Violet stood at the table still thinking over logistics in her head when she was interrupted by a tug at her arm.

“Violet?” AJ asked meekly.

“What’s up kid?” Violet looked at the boy.

“Please don’t think I’m stupid but, what’s a birthday party? Clem never taught me that phrase,” he asked.

Violet felt a struck of sadness in her chest. Everyday she realized more and more that AJ had never experienced the best things of life because he was born after the start of the walkers. 

“Well, a birthday is the anniversary of the day you were born,” Violet explained. AJ nodded, listening intently. “And a birthday party is something from the old days. It’s celebrating you getting a year older. And there’s decorations and cake and stuff.”

AJ processed the information, before asking, “Can I have one?”

“Of course kid,” Violet chuckled slightly. “I’ll ask Clem when you were born, and we’ll plan one for you.”

AJ smiled wide before turning and running to the dorm building to begin his distraction duty.

“Make sure to get her back when the sun is the brightest!” Violet yelled at him before he made it inside the building. AJ turned back at her and nodded before closing the door behind him.

AJ made it back to their dorm and walked to Clem’s bed, “Clem?” AJ shook her shoulder gently. 

Clementine woke up with a groan as she turned to lay on her back and adjusted her eyes to the sunlight. The light was bright and it took a while for her to adjust until she could make out AJ’s face.

“Good Morning goofball,” Clementine groggily greeted. 

He shook his head and smiled, “It’s never morning when you’re awake.”

“I forget sometimes,” Clem chuckled softly.

While AJ went to grab her prosthetic from the side of her bed, he explained. “Everyone is already out doing some chores outside. They told us to go out to the shack and do some cleaning.”

Clementine started to attach her prosthetic to her leg, “Oh, what cleaning does it need?”

“Just a little,” AJ answered. “Violet said the spears are getting worn. That’s why it’s hard to get fish sometimes. She wants us to make new ones.”

Clementine paused, “She’s getting very observant nowadays.”

“Probably because of you,” AJ laughed.

The two walked out to the courtyard together after Clementine wriggled her prosthetic on. Violet greeted Clem as she was cleaning the picnic tables. Clementine saw Aasim documenting what happened last night and this morning. Louis was gathering wood for cooking and fire. Willy and Omar waved at her from the watch tower. 

“You all look busy,” Clementine smiled at Violet. 

“We are,” Violet said. “There’s a bowl of fish waiting for you here, then you can head out with AJ.”

“Everyone seems really productive today,” Clementine sat and started eating. “I wonder what got into everybody.”

“It’s nothing!” Violet snapped, in fear that their plan was too obvious. She caught herself and calmed down while watching her eat. “It just felt too cramped out here.”

Clementine looked at her with squinted eyes. She thought the courtyard and the school was cleaner than it ever has been, especially since AJ cleaned up. She remembered the first day that she arrived at Ericson and it was much messier than today, but no one ever really cared to clean. 

“Mhm,” Clementine wondered. She finished her last bite and got up with the help from Vi. “It’s gonna look brand new.”

“We’re gonna love it,” Violet agreed. She called AJ back to Clementine and saw them walk out the front gate.

AJ and Clem walked in silence, they kicked rocks together along the path to see who could keep their rock the longest. AJ is small, but competitive, and he won every time. They began to see the baby blue truck in the distance and the shack behind it. 

“I don’t know what they’re talking about.” Clementine started.

AJ looked confused. Since he was hiding a secret, he got really nervous and sweaty. He has never lied to Clem before, and he was afraid she knew he was hiding something from her, “Like, w-what?”

“The spears are perfectly fine!” Clementine said in defense.

AJ huffed in relief and smiled, “Go ahead, see for yourself.”

Clementine and AJ got into the shack. As they opened the door, dust blew and fell at the top of their heads and into their faces. 

“They were right about that,” Clementine admitted. 

She grabbed the two spears available and pricked the top of them. They weren’t as sharp as the first day she used them with Violet and Brody, but she thought they were still sharp enough. She handed a spear to AJ and they went to the stream.

“Here,” Clem started. “I’ll prove it to you.”

AJ huffed and sang, “It’s not going to work.”

Clementine stubbornly continued to look for fish in the stream. She was determined to prove the group back at home wrong. It’s been a while since she hunted herself, but she didn’t want to sharpen stones again. 

“Ha!” Clementine stabbed a fish.

She brought the spear back up, but the fish didn’t latch onto it.

“Shit!” She yelled. AJ laughed at her. 

“I told you,” AJ said.

“Okay.” Clementine surrendered and turned to the boy. “Shitbird.”

Clementine smiled and scampered away. AJ took it to offense and played along, running after her into the forest.

Clementine didn’t realize it, but she was running again. She forgot that she lost a foot. She smiled as she continued to run away from AJ, thinking again about how grateful she was for her family. She could at least surrender her stubborn beliefs and make new spears for them. She ran for a while until she felt tired, she knew Violet would get mad if she overworked herself.

Clementine dramatically stopped and huffed for breath, allowing AJ to tackle her and stop her from making any more moves.

“Aha!” AJ shouted in victory. “You’re the shitbird!”

Clementine and AJ both got up and looked around their surroundings, making sure they didn’t catch any unwanted attention. 

“There’s some big branches over here.” AJ pointed out. 

AJ grabbed a branch as Clem grabbed two. He was happy to see Clem happy about contributing again, as long as she was okay.

They found themselves back at the shack. They went inside as Clementine sat down next to the table and started to prepare the branches with her knife. She flattened the ends to prepare for the sharpened stones. As she was working on the branches, AJ looked around the shack for the string to attach the stone to the branch, and found a couple of stones outside thin enough to sharpen. 

AJ and Clementine sat together. AJ gave her the string as he was sharpening the ends of the rocks.

“Be careful kiddo,” Clementine warned, keeping an eye on him as she did her work.

“I know,” he answered.

There was a pause. AJ finished his first rock before looking up at Clementine, “Clem?”

“Yes AJ?” She said

“How old am I?” AJ asked. 

Clementine didn’t answer right away, which made AJ feel bad. But he understood. He knew that Clementine had a lot more worries and problems to think about as she was raising him alone. 

Clementine, however, was trying to think about the last year she kept up with AJ’s age. She knew that Rebecca gave birth to him in the winter, so there’s a good gap between her birthday and his. She counted every winter when she had him, even when he was at McCarroll Ranch. She was positive he was turning 7 this year. Nevertheless, she started to doubt herself, thinking that there’s a chance he might be turning eight.

“Honestly kiddo, I forgot,” Clementine said shyly and frowned. “You’re mom gave birth to you around the winter. Since we were alone I’ve counted every winter for you to keep track with your age. I lost it recently. You might be six, or seven.” 

AJ nodded at her and turned his face away, “It’s okay Clem, I’m not mad at you. Do you know how old you are?”

Clementine smiled at him, recalling the recent conversation she had with Violet, “I’m on the same boat with you. I think I’m seventeen or eighteen. It was fall everytime I celebrated my birthday.” 

Clementine took the stones AJ finished and started wrapping the second spear to the stone. AJ did the same with the third.

“Tada! Brand new,” Clementine cheered, holding out the spear to admire her work. 

She pricked the top to check the sharpness, she almost cut her finger, “That oughta do it.”

AJ, getting lost in time and the conversation with Clem, forgot that he had to bring her back when the sun met the top of the sky. He ran outside to check the daylight, he was right on time.

“I’m getting tired,” AJ said, making an excuse to get back home. “Let’s go home.”

Clementine agreed. They started making their way out of the shack and began walking back in the direction of home. They played their rock kicking game until they saw the school in the distance. 

“We’re here!” AJ got excited, knowing the true plans of the group. He grabbed Clementine’s wrist and he forced her to run with him back to the courtyard.

Clementine huffed, “I thought you were tired?”

AJ scanned the courtyard, no one was at the front anymore, meaning that they were prepared for the surprise.

“Shit,” Violet said nervously pacing back and forth inside the doors of the main school building. “Why aren’t they here yet?”

“They’re fine darling,” Ruby comforted her. “He still has time.”

“Would you guys be quiet!” Louis interrupted, hiding from behind the piano with Aasim and Omar. “You’re going to blow our cover.”

Violet shook her head, “You’re so stupid.”

She turned her head back to the door. She almost swore that she heard footsteps come their way. She stood frozen and listened intently, making sure that she wouldn’t mess up the surprise.

She heard a couple thuds of footsteps and yelled at everyone to get into their hiding positions. Not a second later, she heard the secret knock. 

Thunk, Thunkity, Thunk Thunk

Everyone scurried to their hiding places.

From outside, they heard Clem’s voice come, “Why are you knocking goofball?”

AJ murmured a quick “I dunno? For fun.” before pushing the grand doors open.

The group jumped from behind their places and screamed “Surprise!” Everyone was smiling ear-to-ear. Even AJ joined in on the chant.

Clem was taken aback, surprised at what held before her eyes. The room was adorned with orange candle holders and banners strung all around. A cloth hung from the ceiling that said ‘Happy Birthday Clem!’ in bold letters. All of her friends were around her, rushing to her to envelope her in hugs and birthday wishes.

After the initial hug everyone backed away from Clem, allowing Violet to step in front of the girl.

“Surprised Clemmy?” Vi asked.

Clementine nodded and threw her arms around Violet’s shoulders. 

“You guys did all this for me?” she asked, bringing dew in her eyes.

“It was Violet’s idea,” Louis chimed.

Violet blushed and scratched the back of her neck, “I just had the idea, everyone else put in the work.” 

Clementine grabbed the blonde’s cheeks and kissed her before pulling back to admire the room once again. 

“We have a lot planned,” Louis began. “First dinner, your favorite: fish. And then fun and games put together by yours truly.”

Clem giggled at Louis’s suaveness, before following everyone to grab servings of fish. She lit up at the sight of her favorite meal.

During dinner Louis explained his plan for that night’s entertainment.

“So first, I’m going to take a page from Ruby’s party planning book and play guess-that-file. Then, we’re going to play a classic: musical chairs!” Louis stated.

Violet scoffed, “Musical chairs?”

“An essential party game,” Louis refuted. 

“Sounds great,” Clem smiled. “If I remember right, I played that at my sixth birthday party and it was pretty fun.”

Violet looked at Clem’s smile and relaxed.

The group walked over to the table where Omar prepared the fish. There were candles lit in the middle of the table. Everyone gathered around it, allowing Clem to sit in front of the candles. 

“You guys are too much,” Clementine smiled, trying not to cry.

“With me everyone!” Louis cheered, “Happy Birthday to you!”

“Happy birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Clementine! Happy Birthday to you!” Everyone finished.

Clementine heard the cue, she remembered the candle blowing etiquette and closed her eyes. She thought of a wish before blowing the candles, everyone watched and cheered for her.

After the group finished eating, they gathered in a circle on the floor surrounding a file box. 

“I’m gonna read the file, and Clem gets to guess whose it is,” Louis smiled as he pulled out a file.

“Why do I guess?” Clem laughed out from where she sat between Violet’s legs and leaning against her chest. 

“Because it’s the game,” Ruby reiterated.

“Okay so,” Louis opened the file in his hands. “‘Child has not spoken, nor left the room since the arrival at Ericson last week. Presents severe shyness and will not interact with others including dorm mate.’”

Clementine looked around the circle, scratching her head. 

“Read more,” she said.

“Okay, ‘Student continued to refuse to leave room on own regard so we attempted to move them manually. Student responded with an outburst of anger,’” Louis read after turning to the next page of the file. “Now Clem, who’s file?”

“Um,” Clem pondered what she had heard.

“This is an easy one,” Violet said in a sing-song voice.

“Ugh, um, Omar?” Clem guesser sheepishly.

“Ding ding ding!” Louis sounded.

“How’d you know?” Omar laughed slightly embarrassed at his beginning at Ericson.

“Well, out of all of you, you’re the quietest, so process of elimination,” Clem answered. “But I’d love to hear the story of what sent you to Ericson.”

“Well, I’d only talk to my mom when I was a kid. Not my dad, not my family, and no one at school- when they’d get me to go to school. I wasn’t afraid of talkin’ to people or anything, it’d just piss me off to having to listen,” Omar explained. “So, one day my dad was trying to get me to do a chore, and I sat there and didn’t respond or do anything so he lost it. Next thing I knew, I was here for antisocial disorder.”

Clementine nodded, “Well you aren’t like that anymore?” 

“Because the apocalypse isn’t half as bad as my dad was to me growing up,” Omar responded solemn. 

Clem nodded and the room was quiet for a second.

“I’m okay, Ericson turned out to be good for me. Got away from my dad, and found my voice. After they fixed my talking problem then they had to deal with my sneaking into the kitchen to take snacks problem- which is a much better problem,” Omar chuckled attempting to lighten the mood. “Next one.” 

Omar reached into the box and pulled out a few files, sorting through before finding one.

“‘Student presents a panic disorder upon arrival to Ericson. Avidly refuses to give up the journal they always keep on their person,’” Omar read. “Staff attempted to take journal from student, for they were writing in it during a test. Student responded with a panic attack that caused them to pass out from hyperventilation.”

“Aasim,” Clem stated as soon as Omar closed the file. “Only because of the journal.”

“You got it,” Aasim nodded. “I was sent here because my parents didn’t want to deal with my panic attacks. They said I was ‘disgraceful’ for having anxiety because we were well off. The journal was my grandfather’s. It made me feel better.”

“Is it the one you still write in?” Clem asked. Aasim nodded in response. “Well I’d be pissed too if they tried to take my stuff.”

“And now,” Violet smiled at Ruby who had begun to pull a paper from behind her. “We wrote one for you, Clem. Why you would have been sent here.”

Clem broke out in a laugh. 

“Weirdest birthday gift I’ve ever received, but okay,” Clem responded, watching as Ruby handed the paper to Violet for her to read. 

“Student is very hostile. She held a knife to the student's throat upon first meeting,” Violet began. Everyone began to crack up, even Tenn. “Student is accompanied by an equally defensive child who bites people.”

Again the room erupted in laughter, Ruby giving AJ a slight push as a nod to their first time meeting.

“Student is very stubborn, returning even after expulsion,” Violet paused slightly, frowning. Clem laughed at the reference though, giving Violet reassurance to continue. “She presents reckless behavior, climbing to the top of the unserviced bell tower without adult supervision.”

“I am my own adult supervision!” Clem retorted.

“Lastly, Student presents odd friendship choices, befriending a guy who literally wears skin,” Violet finished. 

“Sounds like you fit right in with us ‘troubled youths’,” Louis nudged Clem. 

“I do,” Clem smiled. “I’m offended by the accuracy.” 

After more chatting on the contents of Clem’s ‘file,’ the group moved onto the promised game of musical chairs. 

All different types of chairs from around the school were moved into a circle and Louis took a seat at the piano. 

As the rounds went on and the amount of chairs dwindled down, the relative violence of the game went up. The group was rowdy and wild with the fun of the game, those on the sidelines cheering on those who were still in.

In the last round it came down to Ruby and Clementine circling the final chair: the principal's desk chair. Louis was playing his rendition of ‘Clementine’ in honor of the final round. 

The two were staring darts into each other, the heat of friendly competition igniting adrenaline in them. 

The music stopped and Clem did a jumping dive for the chair, her mid-air sail being interrupted by Ruby shoving the girl so she could slide into the winning seat. Ruby threw up her arms in victory only momentarily before her attention turned to Clem who laid on the ground clutching her prosthetic.

“Oh my goodness Clementine! I’m so sorry!” Ruby began to exclaim, crawling down to her. As the red-head vacated the victory-chair, Clementine changed her face from one of pain to one of mischief. She jumped up and into the chair swiftly before Ruby could realize the trick. 

“Not fair!” Ruby exclaimed as the group began a whooping ‘ohhh!’ at Clem’s tactic.

“Winner winner!” Clem laughed, standing up to do a victory dance. Even Ruby’s face lightened to a chuckle at Clem’s excitement. 

“You cheated, but I guess it’s your birthday so I’ll let it slide hun,” Ruby patted Clem’s back with a smirk. 

The group began talking amongst themselves about the events of the game as Violet approached Clementine.

“That was smart,” Violet began, taking Clem’s hand. “But you also scared the living shit out of me.”

“I know, I’m sorry, I should have warned you,” Clem said shyly before smirking mischievously. “But it was good.” 

Violet nodded, even if to purely boost her girlfriend’s ego. 

“So how is it, the party?” Violet asked.

“Perfect,” Clem said. “I had no idea you were planning this. Thank you so much Vi. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“You don’t have to. It’s what you deserve Clemmy, a little bit of normalcy, a family,” Violet looked into her eyes, admiring them for a moment. Clementine smiled back warmly, pressing her forehead to Violet’s.

“Okay!” Louis directed the attention of the group to him. “This party is amazing, but who’s going to do watch? We don’t want creepers crashing the party.”

“Let’s do it,” Aasim volunteered. 

“No,” Clementine said as she remembered that she hasn’t done watch in a while. “AJ and I can do it. You guys have fun!”

“Oh Clem,” Louis shook his head and put his hand on her shoulder. “No. It’s your birthday! You’re going to have fun. I will force you to have fun.”

Louis made her sit back with the group as he was leaving with Aasim, “Tenn and Ruby can switch with us after we’re back!”

The group waved at them as they left, continuing to talk and laugh together.

“It was pretty nice,” Aasim started. “Seeing Clem like that.”

“Yeah,” Louis agreed. “It’s nice seeing everyone together. It felt like there were no more worries in the world. Not even walkers.”

Aasim and Louis smiled about the thought as they climbed up to the watch tower. There was a long moment of silence as they were doing the initial scan of the woods.

“Damn,” Louis said. “This shit is so boring.”

“Let’s go back to the party!” Aasim joked, pretending to walk to the ladder.

“Nuh-uh-uh,” Louis grabbed his jacket and nudged him back to the front. 

“Since we’re here, I’m just gonna write what happened today,” Aasim offered.

“Hm,” Louis replied and offered him ideas for his writing. “We planned Clementine’s birthday and threw it.”

Aasim laughed at his simplicity, “I don’t write like that, it’s the detail that matters.”

“Oh whatever,” Louis remarked. He watched Aasim sit down and start writing. 

As Louis turned his head back to the forest, he saw a single tree on the right sway its leaves in the distance. He squinted at it, making sure to watch that area. He didn’t feel the need to worry Aasim.

A couple moments later, though, he saw two more trees aligned with the first sway. Whatever was swaying then was getting closer to the school. Louis was getting more nervous, but he didn’t warn Aasim.

For the third time, more trees continued to sway towards the direction of the school, “Dude, get up.” Louis demanded.

“What’s up?” Aasim asked. 

“A couple of trees are shaking towards our direction,” Louis replied, pointing.

Aasim shook his head, “It’s the wind dumbass.”

“No!” Louis grabbed Aasim’s attention by his tone, “The trees are moving in like, a line?”

Aasim got confused by his explanation and wanted to see it himself. They stood up together for a couple moments until the swaying of the trees were just a couple of yards away from the school.

“Shit!” Aasim whisper-yelled. “Get down!”

They crouched behind the wall of the watchtower. “What are we going to do?” Louis asked.

“Let’s grab the others.” Aasim offered. However, they heard the swaying of the leaves get closer to the school, there was no time.

“We can’t,” Louis said in fear. “It’s probably just a couple of walkers, let’s get em.”

Louis and Aasim left the watchtower and opened the gate discreetly. They walked to the right where the direction of the sound was. The sound felt like it was face to face with them. Before they could be spotted, they hid behind the closest bush.

A couple moments of waiting, they saw a silhouette figure walking closer to the walls of the school.

“Thats,” Aasim started, afraid of being heard. “That’s not a walker.”

“We have to kill them,” Louis whispered.

“No!” Aasim defended the stranger. “What if they’re like Clementine?”

Louis sympathized, “Okay, but we’re not letting them in easy.” Louis undressed himself from his coat and tied the buttons and arms together to make a bag. 

“We’ll sneak up to them from the back and put my coat over their head, capture them,” Louis planned.

They observed the stranger getting closer to the school. Aasim couldn’t agree before Louis left the bush and started creeping up behind them. Aasim followed his lead. Louis prepared his coat and took a couple more steps until he stepped on a branch. The stranger turned around in shock and readied their gun. Before they were able to make a shot, Louis lunged at him with his coat and blocked his face from visibility. 

“So much for sneaking up to him,” Aasim remarked. 

“Get off of me!” The stranger yelled. “Who the fuck are you! Let me out!”

“Not gonna happen man,” Louis said. 

Louis and the stranger continued to wrestle until Aasim was able to get his hands behind his back and clench them together. They forced the stranger to stand up. They had Louis’s coat wrapped around the person’s head and their hands behind their back.

“This coat smells like shit,” the stranger said. 

“Oh!” Louis yelled in offense. “We all do!”

“What should we do with him?” Aasim asked.

“I don’t know, drown him?” Louis offered.

“Okay wait!”-

“Shut up!” Louis demanded.

“That ruins the whole point of why we captured him,” Aasim said. “We should bring him back inside, let everyone know.”

Louis was trying to find the alternative, but realized that was the smartest move. They started walking back to the school with the captured victim.

“Where are we going?” the stranger asked.

“Stop asking questions,” Louis said strictly. 

Back inside the party, the group was talking in a circle. A few yawns were exchanged as they began to tidy up. A few minutes later, they heard the doors bust open. By instinct, everyone readied their weapons.

“It’s just us!” Aasim yelled, letting everyone calm down.

Clementine eyes opened wide, “What the fuck is that?”

“Where am I?!” The stranger asked. 

“We found this guy heading towards the school,” Louis started. “We captured him. I wanted to kill him but Aasim thought it was a good idea to bring him inside the place we were trying to get him not to find.”

Aasim grunted at Louis, “I didn’t want to kill him.”

Everyone circled around the stranger. Some were hostile, readying their weapon at any move the stranger was going to make. Violet, AJ, and Clem faced the stranger under the coat. 

“Please just let me go,” the stranger cried.

“Nope,” Violet answered.

“Get the coat off of him,” Clementine said.

“Are you sure?” AJ asked.

Clementine didn’t answer him. She looked at Louis and nodded. 

Louis and Aasim surrendered their hostility while they uncovered the stranger. 

Clementine gasped, “Holy shit.”


	8. The Scouts

Javi woke up in David’s old house in Richmond. It was a bright and sunny day, but it didn’t feel like that within the community. He turned to his side and put his arm out in hopes to hold Kate before he had to get up. However, when he turned he didn’t feel Kate’s presence on his side, she was already awake. Javi groggily sat up from his bed, seeing that Kate was nowhere in their room. He knew she'd been tense lately, but he realized it was getting worse today. He got up from his bed and put on his jersey and pants. He grabbed his backpack and walked outside his house.

The community warmed up to Javi after the breach and assination of Joan. It took a long time for people to believe that Javi was good, after realizing that their past leaders were dictating lies. Javi had a hard time communicating to them, but Kate handled the people well. He appreciated her for that. Fortunately, there weren’t many members lost after the herd. The majority of the people who were lost were the gardeners, and people who weren’t trained well with melee or any weaponry. Most of the soldiers survived. 

Kate and Javi were able to strengthen the community again after holding a lot of city council meetings about how to prevent their previous mistakes from happening again. These meetings were appreciated by the people, as they never really knew or understood what the past leaders were up to before. All of the adults were split within their strengths: gardening, weaponry, lookout, and medical. To prevent anyone from being tired, they did shifts and rotated, to make sure that everyone had a chance to learn different positions. 

Asides from the adults, Gabe led the kids and taught them what he knew from inspiration from Javi. He found old BB guns in the armory and trained kids by making them shoot old glass bottles or buckets. He took some kids in small groups to learn how to kill walkers under lookout supervision. He didn’t know anything about gardening, but the kids taught him that in return. 

The first two years at Richmond went by smoothly. The bulldozer that covered the breach was replaced with metal. The buildings that were torn down by walkers were rebuilt and new council members were elected to lead the different roles in the community. Javi, Gabe, and Kate built Richmond to be good, and other communities knew that it could be a safe haven, as Jesus helped spread the word about their community.

Nevertheless, words can be twisted and manipulated for evil. After Jesus spread the news about Richmond and their resources, he never realized it would backfire. Not too long after the attempt to recruit people, there was a raid. Javi and Kate were unprepared for a group to be so forceful against their community. A lot of members died, yet a lot of kids were taken. Javi didn’t get a chance to talk to the raiders, but he remembered that they had a crate that carried their kids away. Richmond lost a hefty amount of people, and it took them back to square one. After the attack, Kate didn’t sleep well, and Gabe started acting a lot like his father after the kids he trained were taken. He was more strict and hard. Kate and Javi found it hard to get him to open up. He wasn’t the same. 

Javi walked inside the city council building to see Kate and Gabe already working at the table. 

“Goodmorning!” Javi greeted, attempting to warm up the two.

“Hey,” Gabe said.

Kate looked at him with a smile and warm eyes, “Goodmorning.”

“What are we up to?” Javi asked, looking at the map that marked the discovered areas near Richmond. 

Kate was about to explain until Gabe interrupted, “The scouting team said there’s word of two communities close by.” 

“Really?” Javi asked.

Kate pointed at the map, “They didn’t say much, but there’s two that made camp in the woods, not too far from here. They could help us Javi, we need it.”

Gabe interrupted, with a louder voice, “We don’t know that. They could be bad people. The same people that killed our people and took our kids.”

Javi didn’t like being in between arguments. He always felt like he had to choose a side. The past times the scouting team found people, they didn’t last long, and sometimes the team wouldn’t make it back.

Javi pondered on the idea for a while as Gabe and Kate kept talking. He didn’t want to lose more people, but if they didn’t find more people soon, there wouldn’t be anyone to mourn anymore. 

“Let’s host a council meeting,” Javi insisted. “See what everyone thinks.”

Gabe and Kate agreed. They never wanted to do anything without the whole community understanding. 

The sun was setting in the evening. Before the raid, everyone ate together as a community as the gardeners would cook hot meals during specific times. After the raid, it was hard getting people together. No one wanted to see how many people they lost, or how many seats were vacant. Before the meeting started, the lead gardener, Agatha, pulled Javi to the side.

“Yes ma’am?” Javi started.

“Son, there’s not that much food left to feed everyone here.” Agatha said in a worry, “I don't have enough people to tend the plants and not enough people to ask to hunt. I don’t know what to do.”

Agatha dropped her clipboard and started crying in her hands. Javi hated the sight of her crying, she reminds him of his grandma from before, and he treated her like family. 

Javi reached out his arm for Agatha and comforted her, “I promise. We’re going to do something about this. Go and sit down, the meeting is about to start.”

Everyone gathered at the benches inside the council building. The leaders of the groups sat at their seats as Kate, Javi, and Gabe continued standing. It’s been a while since they hosted a meeting, and the three were shocked to see the empty benches in the back that used to be filled with a lot of adults and kids.

“Hello everyone!” Javi started. “Thank you for joining this meeting. We wanted to talk about some things the scouting team found outside.”

Bruce, the leader of the scout team, stood up from his seat, “We found small communities camping not too far from here. We found them the second day out. We didn’t say anything to them, but we observed them from afar. They aren’t our people, but they seem good. I told Javi about it, and I think we should go out for them again and ask them to stay in Richmond.”

As Bruce finished his sentence, loud murmurs from the community started to arise. Javi knew they were fearful about recruiting people again as it didn’t work well the first time. The conversation started to grow louder.

“Okay everyone!” Javi tried to get their attention, “I know this is a lot of information but can we please focus.”

The community was still distracted from the three, the murmurs got louder, and started to sound angry.

“Hey!” Kate screamed, assuring their attention back to the front. “I know this is scary. But it’s the only chance we got. We need it.”

Gabe joined in with Kate, “I was skeptical about it too, but we have to give it a try. Our community is failing, and if we don’t get more people, I don’t think we could last long.”

“We’ll get the scout team to go out and look for them again,” Javi proposed to everyone. 

“No,” Gabe rejected.

“Why?” Javi asked.

“We don’t need to lose any more people. You said we don’t repeat mistakes. Remember the last time they went out asking for people?” Gabe said with a frown.

Bruce was a very robust and heavy guy, but had a good and open heart. He went over to Gabe and put his hand on his shoulder, “It’s okay kid. We’ll be okay.”

“No!” Gabe refused and looked out to everyone. “Javi and I should go out. We’ll persuade them to come to Richmond. We’re a good team.”

The members in the benches started nodding their heads in agreement.

“I guess it’s settled,” Javi declared, “Whoever is against this plan, raise your hand.”

The people in the benches stayed quiet. 

“Everyone is dismissed,” Javi sighed.

Kate watched as the community left the building and went off to their homes. She turned back to Javi, “Are you sure about this?”

“I’m not too sure about anything anymore,” Javi admitted. “But Gabe is right, we can’t lose anymore people, and it’s not too far from here. We’ll be fine.”

Kate rejected, “The people here need you, Javi. What if you don’t make it back? We can’t risk it.”

Gabe and Javi sat together, rethinking their plan. The community looks to Javi for guidance, if he left and didn’t make it back, the community wouldn’t survive long. 

“How about Kate and I go?” Gabe asked.

“No way,” Javi intruded,

Kate looked at Gabe and nodded, “That would work!”

“Are we being serious?” Javi asked. 

“Yes we’re serious,” Kate laughed and kissed Javi on the cheek. 

Gabe assured Javi, “It’ll be good for the both of us to go out there. Kate is better with people, and I’ll protect her, I promise.” 

Javi looked at Gabe and smiled. Although he turned a bit cold-hearted after the raid, he still had his strong will, “Okay kid, I trust you. But I take offense, I’m good with people!”

Gabe and Kate looked at each other and laughed.

“Yeah, okay,” Kate teased. 

After another hour into the night, the three finalized their plan and walked back to their house. It was the first night in a while that they slept comfortably, knowing that they had hopes in saving Richmond.  
Kate and Javi started to wake together. Kate would always be the one to wake up first and try to leave the bed without waking up Javi. Kate knew he was a light sleeper. As they were both waking, a knock arrived at their door.

“Hey,” Gabe said through the door, “Are you guys ready?”

“Hold on kid,” Kate said sleepily. “We’ll be out soon.”

Gabe didn’t reply, but Kate heard his footsteps walking away from the door. 

“He must be super excited to hangout with you for the next couple days,” Javi said sarcastically.

“Oh, he’s gonna love it,” Kate replied. “I have a bunch of fun games to play on the way.”

“He’s gonna love that,” Javi laughed. 

After a couple of minutes, Javi and Kate left their bedroom and met Gabe out in the common field. They met Agatha to eat their breakfast rations and helped her tend to some potatoes before they said goodbye. Agatha gave them some cans of beans for their journey before they headed to the armory.

The three walked inside and gathered melee weapons and guns they’d need for the trip. Gabe insisted that he needed the only RPG they had in the room, which was as big as him, but Javi refused to let him bring it. Kate and Gabe collected knives and submachines to put in their backpack. The two grabbed pistols to put in the back of their pants and extra ammo. They only had enough for this because Bruce and his scout team left their supplies in the armory that they usually use. Bruce thought they would need it more than them.

“Okay,” Kate said, “We’re good to go.”

“Are you sure?” Javi said worriedly, “It’s not too late to switch, I can go.”

“Nope,” Kate refused and walked towards Gabe, “We’ll be okay, I promise.”

The three walked to the front gates and said their final goodbyes, Javi watched them walk out to the forest until he could no longer see them. He was worried, but he still had a lot to do in Richmond to distract himself.

Kate and Gabe were walking for what seemed like a long hike. Kate tried to play “iSpy” with Gabe, but he said he was too old for that. There were only a couple walkers that they came across during their trip so far, but not more than they could handle.

“The forest should be ending in less than a mile,” Kate said while analyzing the map.

Gabe looked at her and teased, “That’s what you said 3 miles ago.”

“Don’t test me,” Kate joked. 

Within the hour, the two saw the end of the forest and saw an open field. They walked faster in hopes to see the new scenery. As they walked towards the field, they saw a bridge pathway. 

“That’s funny,” Kate questioned, “The scouts didn’t mention this-”

“Kate look!” Gabe ran out to the bridge and pointed at the destroyed entrance.

Kate ran towards Gabe out of the forest, and saw the old abandoned building, “Oh, fuck.”

They looked at the big building in front of them with a grand entrance. They saw a guy on the side of the bridge, who was eaten by walkers, and a horse corpse at the edge of the bridge. 

“What is this place?” Kate asked.

Gabe answered, “Whatever it is, it’s long gone by now. Probably why the scouts didn’t care to map it.”

Kate walked further towards the front entrance of the building and threw a rock inside, the rock made three bounces and echoed inside the building, but no walkers were drawn out. 

“Seems safe,” Kate insisted, “Do you want to-”

Kate was interrupted by the light sniffs Gabe was making behind her, “Kate…”

Gabe was pointing to the top of the building, Kate walked back to see what he was pointing at, the words at the top of the entrance said, “McCarroll.”

“McCarroll?” Kate questioned, “What about McCar-”

“Clementine.” Gabe said, trying to jog Kate’s memory.

“Fuck,” Kate remembered, “Lingard said this is where her kid was.”

Gabe’s eyes started to dew, “We have to make sure they’re okay!”

“Okay, okay,” Kate sympathized, “We’ll check the building.”

Kate and Gabe went inside the Ranch, everyone who was once here was either shot, burnt to death, eaten, or all three. Once Kate and Gabe checked different rooms, they killed a few strangling walkers and pocketed anything the dead were carrying that was useful. As they were checking the rooms, they also found a few cans of food to replenish their supply.

“I’m sorry Gabe, but this is the last room,” Kate said in a sorrowful tone.

“Why aren’t they here?” Gabe cried.

“Well,” Kate tried to rationalize his thoughts, “Clementine wouldn’t stay at a walker infested place to raise her kid, right?”

Gabe shook his head, trying to focus back.

They opened the last door and saw a bunch of nursery beds for babies and a woman at the end of the room. She wasn’t eaten, but a bullet went through her forehead. 

Gabe tried not to cry, but a few tears escaped his eyes. He thought the worst happened to Clementine. Kate hugged him and comforted him, until she realized, “Hey, we didn’t see any kids in here, she might have gotten him and left.” Kate looked down at him and smiled.

“Yeah, I guess we can think that,” Gabe said, “Goodbye, Clem.”

Kate and Gabe left the ranch and continued their journey. In the forest, they found an old abandoned cabin the scouts marked as safe. The two entered and slept for the night.

The next morning, the two ate some of their food rations and set out walking again. 

“We should have brought horses,” Gabe said in an irritated tone.

“We don’t have horses, bud,” Kate answered.

“I know,” Gabe agreed, “But wouldn’t it have been nice?”

After a couple more miles, the two reached the railroad station that the scouts had mentioned as the sun began to disappear behind the horizon. After a quick search of it, it’s became apparent that it had been looted completely.

Kate looked down at the map that Bruce had made.

“Okay so, one community is this way,” she pointed West. “And the other this way,” she pointed North. 

“So that forest or this forest,” Gabe responded dryly.

“Watch it smart ass,” Kate said half joking. “Pick which one you want.” 

“I’ll take West, those trees feel more tree-y,” Gabe replied. Kate playfully pushed him.

“It’s almost like you’re my step kid,” Kate laughed, marking on her map that Gabe was taking the West community.

“You can call me your kid, you know,” Gabe looked to Kate, lifting one cheek. Kate smiled genuinely back, warmed by Gabe’s sentiment. He’d grown up a lot in the past years.

“Okay, my kid, I’ll go North,” she said as she marked the map once again. “We’ll meet back here in three days.”

“Okay,” Gabe nodded as he adjusted his bag, ready to keep walking.

“Remember how to tell the direction by the sky?” Kate asked worriedly. 

“Yes.”

“Got ammo?”

“Yes, Kate,” Gabe responded exasperated.

“I’m sorry, just be safe, okay?” Kate stepped forward and hugged Gabe tight. He squeezed her back. 

“I will,” be assured her. “You too.”

“I will,” she nodded, before the two both headed out in their respective directions. 

~~~

“Holy shit,” Clementine gasped. “Gabe?”

“Clementine, oh my god,” Gabe returned with an equal amount of disbelief. He took his arms from Aasim’s grasp and ran to Clem and embraced her. “We thought you were dead, we saw the ranch.”

“I’m okay,” Clementine smiled as she pulled back from the hug.

Everyone else stood in confusion at what was happening. Violet especially grew tense when the stranger ran and hugged her girlfriend. That name sounded familiar, Gabe.

“Who is this guy Clem?” Louis questioned stepping forward.

“He’s not a threat, he’s an old friend,” Clementine said to the group. “This is Gabe, I knew his family a few years ago. I helped them save Richmond.”

The group nodded, although still cautiously eyeing him, as if he could turn hostile any second. 

“Why are you here?” Aasim said questioningly, his arms crossed.

“It’s a long story,” Gabe said. “A lot has happened since you left Richmond, Clem.” 

“Yeah, we know a lot is happening on the river,” Violet said with venom. “Isn’t Richmond part of the wars?”

“We’re neutral, we’re not a part of it,” Gabe defended.

“Hey,” Clem said as she held a hand up, stopping the conversation before it boiled over. “You can explain everything in the morning Gabe, we all need sleep.”

“Good idea,” Ruby chimed, pushing her bangs back. “Let’s head to bed guys, deal with it in the morning.”

“If Clem trusts him, I guess do,” Louis shrugged. “Show him a room for the night.” 

Clementine nodded in response and everyone dispersed except for Violet and AJ who stayed with her. Rosie trotted behind Ruby as she left. 

“Thank you for getting them to take the bag off my head,” Gabe chuckled.

Clementine smirked and nodded in response before turning to Violet. She grabbed the blonde’s hand and squeezed it.

“Go ahead to my room, I’ll meet you there as soon I’ve shown Gabe his room,” Clementine spoke soothingly to Violet.

Violet looked up to her, worried in her blue eyes. Clementine placed a hand on Violet’s cheek and caressed it to reassure her. Violet’s expression softened slightly, leaning her head into Clem’s touch for a second before walking off toward the dorms. 

“AJ, I’ll meet you in there too,” Clem patted the boy’s hair. 

“Okay,” AJ responded before turning and jogging to catch up to Violet. He looked up to the blonde and began talking to her as they walked off.

“What is this place?” Gabe asked, now less guarded since it was just them.

“It’s an old boarding school. The people here saved AJ and I after we crashed our car, and we’ve stayed ever since. There’s a lot more to it, but like you said, a long story,” Clementine explained and began walking out of the building as well. “Come on, it’s late, let me show you to a room.”

Gabe followed her as she began walking. He looked down and noticed her missing leg.

“Oh shit, what happened?” he asked with worry.

“Oh, yeah, long story,” she said sheepishly. “I got bit is the short version.”

Gabe gasped, but quickly tried to regain composure. There was a second of silence before he continued.

“So you found, uhm, AJ?” 

“Yeah, I did,” Clem smiled. “I got to the ranch as it was burning down and I got him.”

She lingered on her last phrase, ‘I got him.’ Saying it brought her the joy of that moment, brought back the memory of finally holding AJ again after all that time. 

“I’m happy you did,” Gabe responded, his heart softening at seeing Clementine with a genuine smile. They arrived at the door of an empty dorm. Clem pushed it open.

“Well, here’s your room for the night,” Clementine gestured inside. It was exactly the same as hers, two bunk beds, a dresser, a desk, and a closet. 

Gabe walked in and sat on the mattress, bouncing on it as if to test it as he looked about the room. 

“It’s homey,” Gabe smiled up to her as he patted the spot next to him. Clementine tentatively complied, sitting next to him but farther away than he had signaled. 

“I’d wondered what had happened to you for all those years,” Gabe began. “When we heard of more small communities in Virginia, I was hopeful you’d still be alive in one… and you are.”

“Yeah, I’m lucky to be alive,” Clementine motioned to her leg. 

“Why didn’t you come back after you found AJ,” Gabe asked, scooting closer.

“I thought life on the road would be the safest for him,” Clem responded, feeling uncomfortable as he continued to scoot closer. There was a silence.

“I missed you,” Gabe confessed, pausing before moving to put a hand on Clementine’s leg. 

Clem quickly stood, pushing the hand from her thigh as she backed away slightly.

“Gabe, I don’t-“ Clem began, stern, before being interrupted.

“You’re with that girl, I figured, it’s okay,” Gabe responded, sadness in his voice. 

“Her name is Violet,” Clem said.

“Is she good to you?” Gabe asked.

“She’s amazing,” Clem responded, smiling slightly.

“Then that’s all I’d ever want for you, Clementine,” Gabe looked up to her and tried to smile, but disappointment was evident in his voice.

“Thank you,” Clem tried to ignore the twinge she heard when he said it. She put on a warm smile again as she changed the subject. “Catch me up on everything in the morning at breakfast.”

“See you in the morning,” Gabe replied, waving as Clementine left the room and shut the door softly.

She entered the hallway and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. With haste, she walked back to her room where Violet was waiting. The blonde was already snuggled under the covers, arms opening to take in Clem as she entered the room. 

Clem unstrapped her prosthetic as quickly as she could, laying it on the side of the bed before diving into Violet’s arms. 

She nudged her head into Violet’s chest, taking in her scent. 

“Hi there,” Violet giggled lightly.

“Mmph mmm,” Clem mumbled back into her chest, feeling comforted by the warmth. Violet traced circles on her back, allowing her to take as long as she needed before emerging to talk.

The night was filled with the sound of crickets and AJ’s snores. Rosie’s padding feet entered the room and jumped to AJ, who welcomingly allowed her to cuddle under his blanket before falling back asleep.

“Vi?” Clem’s voice came, small.

“Mhm?” Violet answered.

“You’re my only one, you don’t have to worry,” Clem said as she looked up to Violet, pulling her closer. “Gabe being here is weird and unexpected. Trust me when I say he’s my friend and that’s all.”

“I trust you,” Violet said. After she said it, Violet was surprised with herself. She meant what she said, but she had never felt genuine trust before this. She was so used to people abandoning her. Is this what being cared for felt like?

“Thank you,” Clem pecked Violet’s lips before nuzzling into her chest once more. “Thank you for my birthday party too. It was really nice.”

Violet’s heart leapt.

“Of course,” she responded softly, placing a kiss on Clem’s curls. “Good night.”

“Good night Vi,” Clem said sleepily.

“Good night Clem and Vi,” came from the other side of the room.

“Good night, AJ,” Violet said, a smile growing as she closed her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is from Justine and Erinn, the authors of this fic. As our first note talking directly to you guys, we both want to say how insanely appreciative we are for all of you reading. We know that we started this fanfiction long after the last episode of this Telltale series, but we believe it’s a game that will stick with us forever :) Please continue to keep commenting, we love interacting with you guys!
> 
> On that note, we take your guy’s suggestions to heart and are willing to input what you guys want to see or hope the story will go. We wanted a past character to come back for a while, but didn’t decide which one until recently. As our fanfiction is the continuation of the series (We couldn’t cope that it was over, haha) we wanted to keep it as realistic as possible. The Richmond group was the last one to see Clementine before she left to get AJ, so we decided to bring back a character from that group! Who knows where it will take the story. However, I am not saying that past characters from season one or two can’t ever show up either!
> 
> Again, we appreciate all of you, and we hope you continue to read the fic :)
> 
> Much love,  
> Justine and Erinn.


	9. Introductions

AJ woke up before Clementine did, as usual. He remembered that a new boy had arrived last night, and was now too excited and eager to see what Clementine would do to him. He turned to the edge of his bed and put on his shoes. He noticed that the left shoe started to grow a hole on the side, but he didn’t care, he never knew anything better than wrecked shoes. He noticed Clementine’s shoes were starting to wear as well. They hadn’t been out “shopping” for clothes in a while, AJ made sure to remind Clem of it at a good time. He walked over to Clementine’s side and tapped her shoulder.

“Clem?” AJ asked and saw Clementine’s eyes peek out, “Goodmorning!”

“Hi AJ,” Clem greeted, “Did Violet send you?”

“No,” he replied, “I actually just woke up.”

Clementine laughed, “Don’t make it a habit.”

AJ nodded and placed her prosthetic on her bed, “Sooooo…”

“Soooooo?” Clementine looked at him with squinted eyes.

“What’s the new guy’s deal?” AJ asked, eager for answers.

“Oh,” Clementine almost forgot Gabriel was here, and that he was a completely new person to everyone. Having him here wasn’t a big deal to her, but she knew things like this make everyone else a little hostile, “I told you about him when you were really little. He was part of the last group I was with before it was just you and me. He’s a nice guy, I think you’ll like him.”

AJ smiled at the idea of a new person. He felt like he knew everyone at Ericson like the back of his hand, “Violet is out on watch, we should head outside for breakfast.”

Clementine asked for help up from her bed, and they started walking out of their dorm and out to the courtyard. As AJ opened the door they saw Gabe sitting at the stairs, watching everyone attending to their morning duties. Gabe turned around at the sound of the door and smiled at them both. AJ jumped and started to talk to him until Clem gestured to him not to. AJ looked up in sadness, but didn’t mind the command as he was hungry anyways. Gabe watched him pass by, sad that he wasn’t able to introduce himself to the very thing that made Clem leave. For years Gabe wondered if Richmond would have been different if Clementine had AJ all along. He thought in that case, Clementine would have stayed in Richmond, and things would be different between him and her. 

“Clementine!” Gabe greeted, “Goodmorning.”

“Hi,” Clementine walked and sat next to him. Violet turned around from the watch tower and waved hi to her, Clem reciprocated, “Why are you sitting here like a loner?”

Gabe laughed, “I tried to say hi, but they didn’t take it well, or, I don’t know.” 

Gabe pointed to Willy out in the courtyard, “Him. I tried to say ‘Hi’ but he just kept staring at me.”

Clementine chuckled as she remembered a similar thing happening between Willy and her the first day she arrived, “Yeah, he doesn’t see new people around very often. At least people who are nice.”

“Then I tried talking to the red-headed girl,” Gabe continued, “but she looked really mad at me.”

“Yeah,” Clementine scratched her back, “she’s like that at first, but she’s really nice, and will defend any of her friends, at all costs.”

“They seem like nice people,” Gabe sighed, “I wish I could get to know your friends.”

“You can,” Clementine stood up, “It’s almost breakfast anyway, I’ll introduce you better, unlike last night.”

Gabe followed Clem to Omar like a shadow. Clem helped Omar bring the fish to the table and helped AJ finish up setting the table. Clem and Gabe sat next to each other as AJ went to get Violet. Aasim, Ruby, and Louis sat across from her. Rosie followed Tenn to the table as Willy was telling him about the dream he had last night. 

“Guys,” Clem gestured to all of them, “I know it was a bit scary last night, but this is a good friend of mine, Gabe. He was part of the last group I was with before I found AJ and you guys.”

There was a moment of silence before Louis started, “Ah, Gabe. I feel like I remember that name!” He winked at Clementine.

Clementine gave him a raging face screaming for him to “Shut up” as Gabe grew a blush on his face. Ruby and Aasim bursted out laughing at the interaction. Clementine gave up and shoved her face into the palm of her hands, wishing someone would carry her away from the table.

“I hate you,” she said through her hands.

“Contrary to belief,” Louis joked, “You love me.”

Clementine heard footsteps coming from behind her. AJ and Violet came as a saving grace for her embarrassment. Violet sat on the left side of her and AJ sat next to Violet. Clem placed a soft kiss upon Violet’s cheek as she sat. They all began to eat.

Gabe took his first bite and reviewed it in his mind. It wasn’t the best, it tasted like a bad gardening day at Richmond. He tried to hide his facial expression of dislike. 

Clementine whispered to Gabe, “The fish is actually his best. At least I think so.”

Gabe chuckled and swallowed. He put his head down in avoidance of stares that the group might be giving him.

Violet broke the silence, glaring at Gabe, “So, why are you here?”

Clem nudged Violet’s shoulder at the hint of attitude in her tone. Clementine held her thigh in reassurance, but looked at her in a way that said ‘be nice.’

“What?” Violet rolled her eyes, “I’m just asking.”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Ruby defended Vi.

Gabe finished his last bite, “It’s a lot to ask from all of you. I’d like to talk about it to Clem first and maybe have her explain it to you. I think it’d be better that way.”

“Mhm,” Violet agreed sarcastically. 

“Sure,” Clementine assured Gabe, “We can talk about it.”

Once everyone was done slurping down their bowls, Clem and Gabe began strolling to the graves as the others stayed behind to clean up. Violet’s eyes stuck to her girlfriend as she walked away.

Violet tried her hardest to push down the jealousy brewing in her stomach. She trusted Clem, and she hated that her past still made her wary. 

“Graves?” Gabe said almost nonchalantly as the two reached the corner of the walls.

Clem nodded, “Yeah. Not necessarily people buried, but memories.”

Gabe hummed in understanding. After a second of almost awkward silence reading over the names on the stones, he spoke up. “So? That leg?”

“Uh, yeah,” Clem scratched the back of her head and chuckled. “The Delta attacked us, took our people. So we went and attacked them.”

“As one does,” Gabe butted in. Clem smirked.

“We attacked them, and blew up their ship. We all got out alive, surprisingly,” Clementine continued. “But then, a crew member, and an old friend of the kids’ followed us to a bridge. She sliced open my leg to the point I couldn’t really walk. AJ and I got separated from Vi and Tenn.” 

Clem was beginning to choke up and she hadn’t even realized it. Gabe lifted a hand to her shoulder.

“And, there were just so many walkers,” she breathed. “I was pushing AJ up a cliff and I got bit. We made it to a barn and AJ locked us safe inside. I… told him to kill me.”

It was as if the oxygen was sucked from the air the moment she said that. Gabe could hear Clem’s heart beating.

“He didn’t,” she tried to laugh to lighten the mood. “He chopped off my leg and next thing I remember was waking up here.”

“You’re alive, and that’s all that matters,” Gabe said, turning to look in Clem’s eyes. 

“Talking about living, I see that you are too,” Clem responded, breaking eye contact and turning to walk farther along the graves. “What’s been happening since I left Richmond?” 

“We were really good, running well. Everyone warmed up to Javi and Kate and we were growing,” Gabe said, reminiscent.

“Were?” Clem raised a brow.

“Were,” Gabe confirmed. “The community wars began and we remained neutral, that didn’t prevent us from getting attacked though. We were raided and we lost so many people, too many. Since then we’ve been struggling.”

“Oh my god Gabe,” Clem gasped. “Are Javi and Kate alive?” Worry was evident in her voice.

“Yes, they survived,” Gabe assured, garnering a look of relief in Clementine’s eyes. “I’m actually here to recruit people to Richmond-,”

Gabe was interrupted by Clem’s eyes widening in alarm.

“No we’re not gonna take you guys,” he assured, quelling Clem’s worry slightly. “Kate and I are both checking out communities our scouts found. Our job is to tell you about Richmond, what we have to offer, and give the invitation if you’re willing to come. We really need people. Guards, cooks, gardeners… Richmond is dying.” 

Clem nodded thoughtfully.

“Forgetting all that for right now, I want to ask how you are, like really,” Gabe asked. Looking down into Clem’s eyes. He’d grown since last they met.

“I mean I’m still breathing,” Clem chuckled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Gabe scoffed in response.

Violet was watching the two from across the courtyard. The jealousy was still sprouting it’s way through her insides, bubbling up into her chest. She didn’t care that Gabe seemed ‘nice,’ or that he was an old friend, or whatever. She disliked, no, hated, how he interacted with Clementine. 

Ruby noticed Violet fuming on the pic-nic bench and walked to sit beside her.

“Vi, you look like you’re ‘bout to burst, you okay hun?” she said, laying on the honey in her voice in an attempt to cool Violet.

Violet looked up at the red-head surprised, not aware of how much emotion she was portraying in her body language.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Violet replied, standoffish. 

“Well then tell me why you’re boring holes through that guy with your eyes,” Ruby chuckled, trying to make Violet more relaxed. Violet pursed her lips.

“I don’t like him,” she responded curtly.

“You don’t like him, or you don’t like that he’s talking to Clementine?” Ruby responded.

“Same thing,” Violet shrugged.

“Now Vi, you know that girl adores you,” Ruby said, “That boy is just an old friend. Yeah, they used to have something but that means nothin’ now. You were in this situation not too long ago you know, now the roles are just reversed.”

“What do you mean?” Violet finally turned her head to look at Ruby.

“When you found out Minerva was alive, when y’all ran into her in the woods. Imagine how Clem felt seeing you run into her arms,” Ruby began. Violet was listening intently. “Clem knew you two used to have something together, but she trusted in your feelings toward her. She trusted you wouldn’t go runnin’ back to Minnie.” 

“You’re right Ruby, I hadn’t thought of it like that,” Violet stated, softer now. “Doesn’t change how I feel about him though.”

“You’ve always been stubborn,” Ruby shook her head with a grin.

The two looked back to where Gabe and Clem were talking. The conversation seemed more intense than earlier.

“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been being here, really,” Clem emphasizes to Gabe. “I’ve got AJ, I’ve got stability, and I’ve got a girl I really, really like.”

“Just visit, see how you like it. Please Clem? Javi and Kate miss you,” Gabe pleaded. “You don’t have to stay, think of it as a free trial for you and AJ.”

“I can’t leave my family here,” Clem responded, firm.

“Well, you can bring them! Have everyone come to visit Richmond,” Gabe insisted. 

“A visit, the group gets to decide whether they go or not, and that’s it,” Clem pushed firm. “AJ and I will go if he wants, and I’ll see who else is willing. I care about you and Javi and Kate, but my people here come first.”

Gabe was smiling despite the harsh answer.

“Yes! I understand, you won’t regret this,” Gabe was beaming. 

Clementine left Gabe and started to walk towards Tenn, Willy, and AJ. As she was walking towards them she tried to make a script in her head about how to ask everyone if they want to leave their home.

“Hey y’all!” She jokingly said in her head, “Do you want to leave and help out a group while they're in a war? Unsure of when we’re going to be back home and god knows what’s gonna happen while we’re gone?! Sounds awesome!”

Clementine shook her head and waved to the three boys as she approached. 

Clementine sat with them and complemented their drawings to warm the conversation.

“It’s actually a drawing contest,” Tenn said, “You be the judge, who's better?”

All three of them turned their drawings over for her to judge. They all drew the same thing, a car on the street with a house behind them. She didn’t like to admit it, but she thought AJ’s was the worst. It wasn’t his fault. He didn’t really know what an undamaged car or a good home looked like. Clementine actually thought Tenn’s was the most realistic, but Willy’s was the most imaginative for color. 

“Willy wins!” Clem said with a bright voice.

“Aw, fuck,” AJ said, “I don’t even think pink cars exist!”

“They don’t,” Tenn agreed. 

“You guys are just mad you lost,” Willy said in victory. 

The three started arguing as Clementine tried to break them up.

“Boys! I need to talk to you about something,” the three looked at her with curiosity.

“Gabe came here asking for help,” Clem started, “His community is hurting, and they don't have enough people to help them with what’s going on with the Delta. He’s asking if we would like to join their community-”

“Leave?” Tenn asked, astonished.

“Yeah,” Clementine looked at him with the same amount of grief, “Leave.”

“No way,” Tenn said.

“No way in hell,” Willy said.

“Clem,” AJ said, “we can’t leave.”

“I know,” Clem said, “But his family are good friends of mine. And I can’t sleep knowing I didn’t do anything to help. You are my first priority AJ, that’s why if you don’t want to go, you don’t need to.”

“So we’ll stay?” AJ asked, confused.

Clem shook her head, “No, goofball. I’m going to go with him.”

“What the fuck?” Willy said in shock of the conversation in front of him. 

Clementine assured the three, “It’s going to be okay. I know the place and we know Delta. I’ll be there for a couple of days, then I’ll come back here as soon as I can. It’s just a quick visit.”

“If you’re going, then I’m going,” AJ said in confidence.

Clem nodded and agreed with his decision, “I’m happy you’re coming. I’m going to talk to everyone else.” Clementine looked at Willy and Tenn, “You won’t be alone, I know a lot of people don’t want to leave.”

“Okay Clem,” They both wished her luck and continued with their drawings. Clementine stood up and scouted for the others as AJ followed.

Violet and Ruby were feeding Rosie the leftover fish they didn’t eat from the morning. Violet saw the two walking towards the table and she greeted them with a warm smile.

“Hi, Orange,” she greeted Clem with a kiss. 

Clem huffed and laughed, “Orange?”

“It’s a nickname for your name,” she joked, brushing the blonde hair from in front of her eyes. 

“More like a cinnamon,” Clem shook her head.

Ruby bursted out laughing, “You mean synonym, darlin’.”

Clem didn’t really remember her old school days, but she believed Ruby was right. They were the ones living at a school anyways.

She shook her head again and changed the subject, she put her arm over AJ and started, “We have to tell you something.”

The two looked at her with curiosity. 

“Gabe is here because his group needs help. They were attacked by the Delta, they took their kids and killed a lot of people. He’s outside because he’s asking people to join their community.”

Ruby jumped to a conclusion and asked in shock, “You’re leaving?!”

“No!” Clem assured her, “But, AJ and I decided that we are going to visit and help. They were really good friends of mine before I found AJ and you all. It’s the least I can do for them.”

“Okay,” Violet planned out her next words carefully, “Well if you’re going then I’m going.”

“That’s what I said!” AJ said happily with Violet.

Violet looked towards AJ and smiled. She knew he wouldn’t let Clem leave on her own. Violet wouldn’t let her leave either, especially with Gabe. Despite the clarity Ruby was able to give her, she was still naturally a skeptic. 

“Who said no?” Ruby questioned.

“I haven’t asked the guys yet,” Clem answered, “but Willy and Tenn said they were going to stay.”

“Well,” Ruby analyzed the two options, “The kids can’t be left alone, someone needs to look out for them. I’ll stay since Violet is going.”

Clementine respected her decision and squeezed Ruby’s hand as a gesture. 

“Are you sure you want to leave?” She asked Violet again, “It’ll only be for a couple of days.”

“I’ll go wherever you go, Orange,” Violet smiled and winked.

“Please don’t let that catch on,” Clem replied in disgust.

The three left Ruby to Rosie and walked towards the last three guys for a decision. The three were out talking together while Louis was on watch. 

“How’s it going up there?” Clementine caught the attention of the three.

“Boring! As always,” Louis thought for a second time, “Well, not recently. But today it’s back to normal.”

“Good to hear,” Clementine nodded.

“We need to talk to you guys,” Violet screamed to the top of the tower.

“Jeez, wanna pull every walker in a mile Vi?” Aasim joked.

“Maybe, they’d eat you first,” Violet responded. Everyone chuckled. The three descended the ladder to talk to Clem, Vi, and AJ.

“Gabe came here looking for help for his community,” Clem began to explain. “They were attacked by the Delta as well. A lot of people were killed and their kids were taken. He wants our help.”

“So what do you mean?” Omar questioned. 

“So far it's only me, Violet, and AJ, but we’re gonna go to Richmond for a few days. We’ll help them build defenses, jump start their food supply and gardening, and just check in,” Clem responded.

The three looked thoughtful for a moment.

“I’ll tag along, live that adventure life, ya know?” Louis chimed.

“God I hate you,” Violet huffed under her breath.

“I don’t like the idea of that Clem,” Aasim said, unsure.

“You don’t have to go, most of the group is staying,” Clem assured.

“What is Ruby doing?” Aasim asked.

“Staying to watch over the boys,” Clem responded. Aasim nodded, gesturing he’ll do the same.

“Hell, if Louis is leaving, I’m staying,” Omar laughed.

Louis threw his arms in disbelief, “What is up with people today?”

“Okay,” Clem smiled. “I won’t be gone long, hold down the fort for me.”

“You got it,” Omar gave a thumbs up.

Clementine, Violet, AJ, and Louis all walked to where Gabe was sitting on the steps once again.

“I’ve got our travel party,” Clem gestured to the three surrounding her. Gabe looked at them all, smiling. 

“Hi, Louis, right?” Gabe put out his hand to Louis for a hand shake. Louis acceptingly took it.

“Yup, and you’re Gabe, I’ve heard about you,” Louis said. Clem once again rolled her eyes, used to his shenanigans.

Gabe next knelt to AJ’s level, patting the boy’s shoulder. 

“Hi bud, I’m Gabe. I knew Clem before she found you,” Gabe smiled.

“I know,” AJ replied. “I’m not stupid.”

“AJ!” Clem scolded, but Gabe stopped her.

“It’s okay,” he assured. Finally, Gabe stood up to face Violet and held out a hand. Violet gripped it hard, staring daggers into his eyes as she shook it. “Firm. You’re Violet? Clem talks about you a lot.”

Clem looked to Violet in a way that once again said ‘be nice.’ The blonde softened slightly for Clem.

“Yes, nice to meet you,” Violet responded as if it was hard to get the words out. 

Clem let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, “Well, what do we say that we head out tomorrow?”

“Perfect, I told Kate I’d meet her at the train station midday,” Gabe agreed. 

“We should head out first light tomorrow then,” Louis said, giddy for adventure. 

“Can Clem even wake up that early?” AJ piped in. 

“Yes, Goofball,” Clem laughed, patting his hair.

“First light it is then,” Violet nodded.


	10. Return to Richmond Part 1

“This is where the scallions are!” Ruby directed Clementine to the green stalks deep into the greenhouse. 

“This is so cool!” AJ applauded Ruby at the look of the new greenhouse.

Since Clementine and Ruby last did work in the greenhouse, they planned out where they could grow new vegetables off of old compost and old packs of seeds they prayed would still work after a long time of sitting. Ruby was the caretaker of the greenhouse. Every once in a while someone would pitch in and help her plant roots into a bigger area of soil, but Ruby always preferred to be in the greenhouse by herself. It was a special place for her. Everytime she went to check on the fruits and vegetables, she’d thank Ms. Martin by her grave. Once a new plant bloomed or a new vegetable sprouted, she’d prick one off of the stem and drop it off at her grave. It was a way for her to thank Ms. Martin for everything she taught her.

“Thank you kid,” Ruby smiled at AJ. “I hope it makes Omar’s food taste better. Because let me tell you, I am done with his bizarre ‘expertise’ cooking.”

Violet, Clem, Gabe, Louis, and AJ all laughed behind her in agreement. It was time for a new taste in cooking. Violet gave a scolding look at Gabe without anyone looking, she didn’t think he was here long enough or knew anyone well enough to know what anyone would be talking about. It made her worry if Clem was talking too much with Gabe than she was comfortable with, or that Clem was informing her about. She really tried to be cool, but it was her nature to worry. 

“Anyways,” Violet started. “We should harvest some potatoes and carrots. They could be a good quick snack in case we can’t get any fish or animals.”

“I love the way you think,” Clementine gave a quick kiss on Vi’s cheek, allowing a warm blush to spread.

“I appreciate you Ruby,” Gabe looked at Ruby with a warm smile, “I’m sad you’re not coming along, our gardeners know what they’re doing, but they’d like a good person like you. A person who really cares about their work.”

Violet rolled her eyes. ‘Such a suck up,’ she thought. 

“Why thank you Gabriel,” Ruby blushed and handed them a hefty amount of carrots and potatoes. “Please come back home. We know what happens when we seperate.”

Ruby’s last words gave Clementine chills up her spine. It was sleepless last night for her, as she couldn’t stop thinking if she was making the right choice. If her decision would end up costing someone she loved. Clem hid her feelings this morning, and continued to have a good outlook on the plan with the support of the group.

The group was walking off away from the greenhouse as Ruby was waving goodbye behind them. AJ turned around with immediate homesickness and ran to Ruby to give her one more big hug.

The group arrived at the front gate where everyone else was waiting for them to leave and give them last advice.

“Are you sure you don’t need a cane for your leg anymore?” Willy asked, worried for Clem.

“I’m okay bud,” Clementine reassured him and looked at the two boys, “Look out for each other, okay?”

Willy and Tenn nodded at each other and gave Clem one last hug.

“Please don’t scare any girls while you’re over there,” Omar and Aasim begged Louis.

“I promise… that I cannot promise anything,” he smirked back at them.

“Oh Jesus Christ,” Aasim put his hands on his face. “Be careful.”

“Don’t worry,” Louis said. “I got the bow and arrow and Chairles.”

“We’ll be back before you know it,” Violet said to her friends staying behind, it felt weird for her to leave them. In fact, it felt very weird knowing that she’s leaving the people she’s known her whole life for Clementine. It made her stomach rumble knowing how much love is changing her, but she liked it.

The group said their last goodbyes. In a short while after, the school looked like a little dot in the distance covered by all the trees. The group was hiking for a while in silence until Gabe spoke.

“Hey AJ!” Gabe called for him.

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever learned how to play a card game?” Gabe asked him.

AJ and Louis both looked at each other and smiled.

“Yeah!” AJ said in excitement, “I have played War and Truth or Dare with Louis.”

“That sounds fun!” Gabe beamed.

“It sure is,” Louis joined. “Why? Did you wanna play?”

“Not those games actually,” Gabe said. “If you don’t mind, I wanted to teach AJ my favorite game. It’s called euchre.”

“Interesting name,” Louis nodded his head. “Let’s learn it.”

“I’d rather sit down to teach you guys,” Gabe said and looked ahead to Violet and Clem. “Hey! You guys wanna take a quick snack break?”

Violet and Clem turned, shocked at how far ahead they were from the boys. They walked back and found a fallen log to sit on.

Clem opened her backpack and handed a potato to everyone. As she was passing them around. Gabe sat on his knees on the ground, compiled a bunch of leaves and some sticks, and started to create friction. A tiny fire soon started. 

“Nice!” Clem applauded him. “Where’d you learn that?”

“From Bruce,” Gabe smiled at the memory of him learning it. “He’s the leader of our scouts, you’ll love him. I know it's not much, but go ahead and heat up the potatoes a bit.”

Louis started to warm his potato in happiness, “I love. This man. I’m so happy I didn’t have to eat a raw potato.”

AJ laughed with him, “Soo, can we play euchre?”

AJ and Gabe both looked at Clem for permission; she nodded her head.

The three boys put their backs against the girls and started to play.

“Do you like your potato, Purple?” Clementine teased Vi.

“What?” Violet looked at her confused.

“Do you like your potato, Purple?” Clem asked again.

“Oh, please. No,” Violet refused the nickname.

“That’s what you get for nicknaming me Orange!” They laughed together.

“The colors together probably make some type of gross brown,” Violet said with her head down.

“Only if you think of it that way,” Clementine said happily. “I think we make a cute brown.”

“Ha!” Gabe shouted, “I win!”

“Ah fuck,” AJ said in defeat, “That’s not even a good rule!”

“I respect the man,” Louis said in acceptance. 

Clem and Violet told the boys to be quiet, reminding them that they’re out in the open.

“I used to win a lot of games against my dad for a couple of dollar bills,” Gabe whispered. “I used to use them at the ice cream trucks in the park.”

“What’s an ice cream truck?” AJ asked.

“It’s a car with people inside that carries ice cream around to kids for money,” Louis roughly explained.

“Sounds weird, and dangerous,” AJ remarked.

“It kinda was,” Gabe agreed.

“We should continue to head to the train,” Clementine directed as they were finishing up their snack. “It’s almost noon.”

Gabe packed up his cards and Clementine cleaned her backpack. Gabe stomped out the tiny fire and brushed dirt on top of it to prevent any attempts to track them.

The group continued to hike together to the train station, the boys continued to explain things that used to exist to AJ while he pictured them in his mind. Clem was slightly afraid of it. She overheard some things that they were saying. The boys trying to explain what the McDonald’s Play Place was, sounded frightening in detail. 

Violet regained Clem’s attention, “I still don’t like the name of our place. I honestly don’t even know what the current name is.”

Clem giggled, “It’s Happy Sunshine Land to me, Texas Two to you.”

“Nooo,” Violet continued to disagree and chuckled. “How about ‘Delta Destroyers’?”

“True,” Clem nodded. “But that sounds too scary.”

“How about ‘Orange-Purple’?” Violet smiled at Clementine.

“I like it, but I don’t think everyone will agree to it,” Clem noted.

“Ah, I don’t fucking know,” Violet said in frustration.

“Maybe there’s a reason we don’t have a name,” Clem said.

“Why?”

“The perfect name will come to us when it comes,” Clem looked at Violet. “When it does, it’ll be perfect.”

“Hey!” AJ caught the attention of the group “We’re here!”

Gabe looked at the sun to see the time, “We’re good on time too!”

The group arrived at the train station, checking their surroundings for any strangling walkers. 

“It’s clear,” Clem directed the group.

They then continued to search for Kate around the train and around the building. Clem and AJ checked inside the building, no walkers or people were present. 

“Hey!” Gabe called to the group, “I found something.”

Gabe directed his hands down at a ditch close to the station. He heard the sound of some walkers hitting against something.

Gabe walked back to the group and led them to the ditch, “I heard something down there, I hope it’s not Kate.”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Louis assured him.

The group looked down at the ditch only to find an old red car upside down and walkers hitting against its metal. 

“Ohh yeah,” Clementine and Violet smiled. “It’s okay. Kate’s not in the car.”

“How do you know?” Gabe asked.

“Because it was our car,” AJ interrupted.

Gabe had more questions about it, and how it could possibly be theirs since it looked so beaten, but he was more worried about Kate.

After a couple attempts of looking, Gabe sat down in defeat. “I can’t find her anywhere!” Gabe pleaded in frustration.

“I’m sorry Gabe,” Clem said in sympathy. “Are you sure you guys were supposed to meet here?”

“I’m positive,” Gabe said in confidence. “She wouldn’t be late to things like this and make me worry!”

“Well,” Violet shrugged. “We have to go back.”

“No! We can’t!” Gabe said in sorrow.

“I’m not saying you have to come, but we tried to help you,” Violet said. “We can’t risk being out here if Kate isn’t able to meet us.”

“No. No,” Gabe refused to think of the worst, “ We have to go looking for her.”

“No way,” Violet disagreed, “We agreed to meet her here, we can’t be wandering off.”

The two looked at Clem for the tie breaking vote.

“We made it all the way here,” Clem said. “The least we could do is try a little bit more.”

Violet huffed, but agreed.

The group followed Gabe north and into the tall brush he had seen Kate disappear into just a few days prior.

He headed blindly through the tall grass, marching forward without thought to his surroundings. He began to yell Kate’s name.

“He’s gonna get us all killed!” Violet whisper-yelled into Clementine’s ear as they followed behind Gabe. “Stop yelling dumb ass!” Violet said louder so Gabe could hear. 

Gabe turned to Violet in an urgent huff, “Kate’s out there, she could be in danger!” 

“You’re gonna put all of our asses in danger if you keep on screaming like that,” Violet shot back, taking a step forward and pointing a finger into his chest.

“Fuck off,” Gabe returned, pushing Violet, causing her to stumble back and fall.

“Vi!” Clem yelped, crouching to her and helping her up. “Both of you! Stop.”

“Clem? I thought you’d be on my side?” Gabe retorted. 

Clem shot a disapproving glance at him, “There are no sides.”

“Shut up guys,” Louis stepped in the middle. “Figh-“

He was cut off by AJ’s voice, “Clem…”

“Not now AJ,” Clem said offhandedly while helping Violet up.

“Fighting isn’t gonna help us find your friend,” Louis continued.

“He’s righ-“ Clem began, yet was interrupted again.

“Clem!” AJ again shouted out. “Behind you!”

In horror, Clem quickly turned to see two walkers reaching to her.

“Fuck!” she exclaimed as she quickly stepped away. Gabe turned around to see walkers approaching from farther in the forest.

Louis embedded an arrow in one of the walkers behind Clem’s skull, and AJ shot the other right between the eyes. The group quickly attempted to mobilize away from the herd they had awakened, but were only greeted by walkers closing in.

“It’s not that many. We can take them,” Violet shouted out, sinking her axe into the closest one.

The group fought the walkers in a circle, backs to each other. They had thinned the herd pretty well, allowing themselves a chance to breathe.

“Look what he di-“ Violet began pointing to Gabe as she downed another walker.

“No, no, no. No blame game,” Louis intercepted, kicking a walker head off with Chairles before turning to point at Violet. “When you point at someone, there’s always four fingers pointing back at you, ya know.”

“Louis!” Violet screamed, eyes widening as she attempted to grab hold of Louis’s hand and pull him toward her. She was too late though, a walker had grabbed hold of him from his back. She was frozen in a panic as she watched Louis being dragged to the ground, wrestling off the walker. 

Suddenly, a gunshot rang from a distance, splitting directly into the walker’s temple. It was followed by more rounds as the last straggling walkers fell.

“What was that?!” Clem asked in panic.

“Gabriel?” came a woman’s voice, carried by the wind. 

“Kate!” Gabe exclaimed, a smile creeping on his lips as he sprinted to the direction in which he heard it. Clem, Violet and AJ quickly helped Louis up before following Gabe. 

“No bites?” AJ asked, looking up to Louis with big eyes.

Louis patted down his legs and arms and shook his head, “No bites.”

Big breaths of relief came from the four. By the time they caught up with Gabe, he was enveloped into Kate’s arms. 

“Guys, she’s alive!” Gabe turned to them happily.

“I’m surprised we’re alive,” Violet mumbles under her breath. Only AJ heard, and he tried to stifle his giggle.

“Kate!” Clem smiled, running to her and hugging her. 

“Oh my God, Clementine!” Kate welcomed the hug, before pulling back and taking in the sight of Clem. “You’ve grown.” She continued to smile looking at her face, surprised to see how good she’s grown until she looked down at the rest of her. “And you’re missing a leg!”

“Yeah,” Clem laughed. “You look just like the day I left.”

“I take that as a compliment,” Kate smiled before turning to Gabe. “What happened? I was just on my way to the train station to let you know I had a group setting up camp a bit of a ways back.”

“You got a group?” Gabe asked, surprised and hopeful.

“Mhm,” Kate nodded. “And so did you, I see? I can’t believe you really found Clem.” She looked towards Clementine, “We saw the ranch.”

“Oh, that definitely isn’t a good sight to see,” Clem said in sadness, remembering how it felt to be inside the ranch.

“Yeah, she has a whole camp!” Gabe replied.

“I have a community in a school to the west,” Clem smiled before turning to her three companions. “This is Louis, Violet, and AJ.”

“AJ? As in…?” Kate said skeptically, stepping forward and leaning down to AJ’s level.

“It is,” Clem smiled warmly. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you, AJ. Clem cares about you a lot,” Kate patted AJ’s hair. He looked up to Clem for reassurance that this lady was safe, in which Clem nodded. 

“Hi,” AJ said. Kate chuckled and stood up, turning to shake both Louis’s and Violet’s hands.

“I’m Kate,” she greeted.

“Well, I figured,” Violet retorted.

“Nice to meet you, don’t mind her, someone must’ve shit in her stew this morning,” Louis stepped forward. Violet rolled her eyes in response. Kate laughed internally at the antics.

“So Kate, the group, how many?” Gabe piped in, getting the conversation back on track. 

“Six, a farming community. They have some livestock so they’re moving a little slow, that’s why we’re setting up camp tonight,” Kate responded. “Come on, I’ll bring you all to camp.”

With that, the group began to follow behind Kate. The sun began to mingle with the horizon, casting an orange hue through the sky. The plants swayed with the wind.

Everyone was walking to themselves, except for Gabe who was excitedly staying close to Kate. Violet sped her walk to meet up with Clementine.

“Clem?” she chimed, looking to Clem’s face, which was turned toward the setting sun, basking in the last rays of warmth.

“Hmm?” she replied softly, as if not to disturb the sound of the breeze.

“I’m sorry I got, uh, hostile towards Gabe again,” Violet confessed, seriousness in her eyes. “The moment was stressful, and I’m sorry.”

Clem turned her head to look at Violet. She momentarily lost herself in those blue eyes.

“I’m not mad, I understand,” Clem said. “He gets like, that, in stressful situations. I’ve been in way too many of them. It was dangerous, and he was gonna get us killed.”

Violet smiled and took Clementine’s hand, swinging it as they walked. 

“I appreciate your apology though, I know you’re trying and I know it’s hard,” Clem continued. “You haven’t exactly had the most trustworthy people in your past so I get why you are the way you are.”

“How are you so patient?” Violet asked. “I’m not an easy person to deal with.”

“I’m patient because I love you,” Clem said.

“You love me?” Violet stopped and turned to Clem eyes wide. Clem quickly came to realize what she said. She hadn’t thought about it when she said it because it was true; it came out so naturally. 

“Yeah, I do,” Clem smiled sweetly. She pulled Violet’s hand to continue their walking pace. Violet was still internally frozen, processing what Clementine had just told her. Violet had felt love, but she’d never been loved, or at least she was never told it. Her and Minerva had been a thing, but it wasn’t love for Minnie like it was for Violet. To Minerva, she was a pastime, a giddy crush, a girl to kiss when the loneliness of the apocalypse weighed on her. Minerva had never said she loved her. Hearing the combination of words was a whole new territory for Violet. 

After a few minutes of walking in awe struck silence, Violet squeezed Clem’s hand and squeaked, “I love you too, Clementine.”

The two walked in a bubble of warm excitement.

The group finally reached the campsite as the sun made its final bow to allow darkness into the sky. The camp was made in a fenced area, what used to be a power station. A fire flickered in the middle and six bodies huddled around it, eating what looked like a stew.

“We’re back,” Kate called out to the group around the fire.

“Ah, Kate, my dear. I was beginning to worry,” a little old lady said as she walked to the group, using a cane for support. She had a rifle strapped to her back, rounds hanging from the belt of her skirt. 

“No need Prim, I found him,” Kate responded. “And he found some people as well.” She gestured behind her to the five. 

“Hi there, I’m Gabe, you’re coming with us to Richmond?” Gabe asked as he shook Prim’s hand.

“That’s the plan, your mother here is an angel,” Prim said, gesturing to Kate. Her eyes widened at the way Prim used ‘mother,’ but became calm at Gabe’s unfazed expression. “I prayed for help to be sent when our fields were destroyed by a herd, and here comes Kate not two weeks later, offering community and peace.” 

Gabe just smiled and nodded. He’d lost his religiousness long ago, but respected the woman’s devotion to it still. 

“Let me introduce you all to everyone,” Prim invited as she turned to walk toward the fire once again. The kids followed. 

Prim first pointed at two men chopping wood and feeding it into the fire.

“They’re Rich And Levy,” Prim said. “Couple from the farm neighboring mine. When their house got destroyed in a storm two summers ago they came to me. Shouldn’t distract ‘em right now, last time I tried to get their attention while they were holding an axe, Levy nearly lost a pinky.”

She then pointed to a woman with graying hair pulled into a tight bun and led the group up to her.

“Daly, these folks will be joining us tonight,” Prim gestured to the group before stopping and turning. “I didn’t quite catch you all’s names?”

Louis stepped forward quickly, giving a slight curtsy (which everyone cringed at). “I’m Louis.”

“Violet,” Violet raised the hand that wasn’t holding Clem’s to give a slight wave.

“I’m Clementine,” Clem introduced herself. “And this is AJ.”

Clem scooted AJ forward a bit. He was hiding behind her legs slightly. He wasn’t used to meeting new people, Ericson had been his only practice. 

“Ah, you have a shadow,” the woman smiled at Clementine. “I’m Daly.”

The woman then called her two kids over. One was a girl around AJ’s age and the other was a boy who looked to be slightly older than Clementine. 

“Sophia and Roman,” Daly said, gesturing to the two. 

Roman nodded at the group, and Sophia jumped excitedly as she said hi. 

Clem nudged AJ’s shoulder and nudged her head towards Sophia.

“A girl your age AJ,” she whispered and smiled down to him. AJ nodded wide eyed while looking at the girl. She had long, sleek black hair and piercing green eyes. AJ’s heart thumped in his chest. 

“AJ? I’m Sophia,” the girl greeted as she stepped forward to shake AJ’s hand. AJ took it and shook, smiling dumbly. 

Louis, seeing AJ’s awkwardness, kicked the back of his calf lightly to jolt him back to the real world.

“Nice to meet you all!” Clementine smiled.

“Come now, let’s set up your beds,” Prim then ushered them over to a pile of hay in a wagon. 

“This is Neigh,” she motioned to a black spotted horse. “And Moe,” she motioned to a cow chewing on the hay. “Grab yourself some hay and get comfy.” 

They all nodded, and were struck in awe of seeing bigger livestock than chicken or rabbit. The group grabbed armfuls before preparing their beds by the fire, and falling in a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! 
> 
> First I wanna thank you guys for all your reads, kudos, and comments. We’re at double digits! It feels so amazing to hear from you and know you’re enjoying what we write!
> 
> Secondly, we want to ask our readers’ opinion on something. After thinking of ways we can take this story, we want to know how you all feel about major character death. Death is a large part of twdg, and we feel we might want to include it in the future. So tell us how you feel about maybe future character death: is it necessary for this nature of story? or should death be kept out because we have the power to save them as fanfiction writers? If we don’t get any responses we’ll go ahead on our own discretion, but we’d love feedback. 
> 
> Again, thank you!
> 
> ~ Erinn and Justine


	11. Winter Memories

Clementine felt the rumbles of the ground bounce her head up and down from the ripped and weathered leather seat. Her hands under her head helped cradle her head and supported it for her neck. She felt weary and cold. She felt trickles of sunlight falling on her jacket through the white clouds and snowflakes. 

She wanted to go back to sleep, but the terrain was getting too rough and loud for another round of slumber. She rubbed her eyes in circles and pushed herself upright. Her eyes were continuing to adjust to the bright white light she was staring at through the windshield. 

“Ah, you’re up!”

“Hm?” Clementine questioned.

“You’ve been out for a while, we was wondering when you’d wake up. We’re almost there,” Kenny said in the driver’s seat.

“How did you sleep?” Jane asked, turning around to see Clementine still weary eyed.

“I’m okay, I had a dream.” Clementine replied with a yawn.

Kenny laughed, “dreaming of Wellington?”

“Or getting out of this fucking truck?” Jane sarcastically remarked.

Clementine huffed at the two, “No, none of that.”

“I was surprised AJ wasn’t loud or didn’t cry while you were asleep.” Jane said.

“That’s because he’s a real soldier boy, he’s gonna be a good man,” Kenny moved lanes on the street hoping for a smoother ride, but it still didn’t work.

“I wonder if there is another world,” Clementine started, “one where AJ’s mom is, and she’s looking down at us.”

Jane has always been skeptical of this talk, but didn’t want to ruin Clementine’s beliefs at a young age, as she decided it was better for her to decide what is real and make believe. 

“There could be,” Jane said as she continued to cradle AJ, “At least I hope there is, it’s what Rebecca deserves. Do you want to hold him?”

“Oh, I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Clem hesitated, “he might cry.”

Jane chuckled, “If I can hold him, you definitely can.” Jane turned to the backseat and gently laid AJ onto Clem’s arms.

“Uh,” Clementine shuffled her arms to a comfortable position, forgetting completely how to hold a baby.

“Clem, at least support his head, it looks like he’s bending over backwards,” she continued to laugh.

“Oh, right.” Clementine fixed her position, and comfortably held AJ.

“You’re so great with him, I’m happy he has you as a big sister.” Kenny said proudly.

“Thank you!” Jane smiled.

“Not you, you shit,” Kenny said sharply, “I mean Clem.”

“I know, but it was nice to think you’d compliment me.”

“You don’t need no complimentin’.” Kenny said with a blank face towards Jane.

There was a moment of silence as everyone continued to look ahead at the road. Clementine drew letters and shapes on AJ’s forehead, as if she was communicating them to him.

“Wellington is going to be a safe haven,” Kenny said, “I know it will be.”

“What makes you think that?” Jane questioned.

“It’s safer than these fucking cities down here,” Kenny remarked, “Better than anything down here.”

“You should know by now that nothing is certain,” Jane shook her head at Kenny and the idea about Wellington.

“Is it so fucking bad to have hope?” 

Kenny and Jane looked at each other, waiting for someone to start the fire for an argument, but decided it wasn’t worth the energy.

Clementine stayed silent, looking at the two. It felt unreal to be in the truck, yet she couldn't point her finger to exactly why. She felt the weight of AJ, the cold reaching her skin under her blue jacket, and she could even feel the presence of Kenny and Jane. She looked at her own body, and felt like she was displaced. That she wasn’t really here. 

“My dream almost felt like a nightmare,” Clem said in a whisper.

“Why’s that?” Jane asked.

“It was just,” Clementine was scared to describe it, “There were a lot of people I was with, and I felt lost. Like I didn’t know what to do or where to go. And I couldn’t help anyone. AJ was there, but you guys weren’t.”

“Oh shit,” Jane said in shock, “We were dead?”

“I mean yeah,” Clem said,” but-”

“Clem, it’s going to happen at some point, and that’s okay, as long as I know you’re safe, and AJ is safe. There is no one else I’d rather have to take care of him.” Kenny reassured Clem.

“Wow, thanks!” Jane said again in sarcasm.

“Don’t fucking mention it.”

“Guys!” Clem stopped the both of them.

“I’m sorry sweetie,” Kenny apologized, “And then what?”

“I felt neck deep in worry and panic. I was leading these people and they were counting on me.I got scared. What if they die because of me?”

“Too bad then.” Kenny said.

“Kenny!” Jane yelled.

“Well that’s how life is now, I’m sorry,” Kenny directed the conversation to Clem, “No one is responsible for another person’s life in the end. Even the little ones.”

“Even AJ?” Clem said, almost in tears.

“Well, it all depends on what you’re willing to give, are you willing to give up your life?” Kenny asked Clem.

“You don’t have to answer that Clem-”

“I’d give up anything for AJ.” Clem said in determination.

Kenny smiled, Clem saw that through the rearview mirror, “I know you would, that’s why I trust you. Lee gave his life for you, and I’m willing to do the same. That’s how I know we’re safe together. That’s the only way groups make it nowadays.”

Clem looked at AJ, she was almost certain that he was looking back at her and knew what she was thinking. AJ smiled up at her and laughed. 

“Well who would’ve known!” Kenny laughed, “He thinks you’re funny lookin’” Clem laughed with him and AJ.

“Clem,” Jane started, “In all seriousness, you can not save everyone. People die. The people you love can die and you always have to keep that at the back of your head. It’s scary, but that’s how you help yourself from every letting it happen to your own people. I wish I knew that a long time ago.”

“That’s scary.” Clem said in sadness.

“But do you promise me?” Jane said, “To always keep a realistic point of view, and never let anything get in your way?”

Clementine took a moment of silence, “I promise.”

“Over my dead body though that it will happen to you and AJ,” Kenny said, “Don’t worry sweetie, everything will be okay.”

“You’re basically half dead,” Jane joked and laughed, “One more eye and that’s it.”

“Oh, fuck you! …” Kenny started arguing with Jane.

Clementine didn’t care to stop them, it almost felt soothing for her to hear them argue. She couldn’t describe it, but she missed hearing both of their voices, as if it’s been years since she’s ever seen and heard them. It was a bittersweet moment, enough for her to shed tears for both of them.

“Oh don’t cry Clem,” Kenny took a breath and assured her, “I’ll always be here to help you.”

Clementine held her breath and let out a loud sigh and continued to cry, “I know, that’s why it’s so hard.”

“Either way,” Jane cut in, “We’ll either be dead or old by the time AJ and you are older. By then you’ll be able to fend for yourselves, and you might need to take care of us in the end.”

“I wish I could still be taking care of you.” Clem said in a whisper.

“What sweetie?” Kenny asked in confusion.

“Nothing.” Clem wiped away her tears.

The three held a moment of silence until Clem could clear her head of tears. 

Kenny spoke, “So this group, were they good people, or fucking shitbirds?”

Clem laughed, her eyes still red through the head mirror, “Some were good, some were bad, but I felt that I loved them.”

“Keep that feeling,” Kenny smiled at her through the mirror, “It’s something that this world needs. It’s not enough to survive, I wish it was. But it’s motivation to keep going.”

Clem smiled, “I’ll love AJ!”

“That's good!” Jane joined, “we know you will.”

“Clem?” Kenny asked.

“Hm?-”

“Clem, are you okay?” Kenny asked again.

“Yeah, I’m f-”

“Clem?” Jane started to ask her.

“Yeah?-”

“Clem? Are you okay? Wake up.”

“What?”

“Clemmy, wake up!”

The light in the windshield started to get very bright, and dark at the same time, Kenny and Jane were disappearing in the side of her eyes. The weight of AJ was gone in an instant. The color of the truck started to fade away slowly.

“Clem? Wake up,” Violet shook her shoulder gently. 

“Huh? Yes? What’s wrong, did something happen?” Clem put her head up and leaned against her elbows.

“No nothing’s wrong,” Violet moved Clem’s hair behind her ear, “you were talking in your sleep, you haven’t done that before. Were you having a nightmare?”

“Oh,” Clem shook her head, “No, I wasn’t.”

“What was your dream about?” Violet laid her head against the hay, and Clem did the same. They laid on their sides to look at each other.

“Um,” Clem squinted her eyes to try and remember, “Damn, I forgot. But I dreamt about Kenny, and Jane.”

“That sounds nice,” Vi smiled at her, “You must’ve been missing them.”

“Yeah, I guess I was.” Clem put her back on the hay and looked up.

“It’s still the middle of the night Clemmy, you could go back to sleep.”

“Do you think these are good people?” Clem asked Vi, “do you think they’re like us?”

“I mean, I think they are.” Vi looked up with her, “not many bad people have children around, and with the way they invited us in, I don’t think they would’ve done that for just anyone. I think we’re okay.”

Clem nodded, “I think you’re right.”

There was a moment of silence as they both closed their eyes, trying to go back to sleep. Clementine continued to toss and turn.

“You can’t go back to sleep?” Vi asked.

Clem stared at her, “Do you trust me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like,” Clem paused, hesitated to talk, “With your life? Would you trust me to make decisions?”

“Oh,” Violet and Clem both laid together in silence, “Of course I would. Would you trust me with yours?”

“Of course,” Clem nudged her head at Vi and kissed her forehead.

“Goodnight, love.” Clem turned to her side and closed her eyes. She could almost feel Violet’s warmth and smiled.

“Goodnight, Clem, I love you too.” Violet threw her arm around her, as they both dozed off to sleep.


	12. Return to Richmond Part 2

“Hey!” Sophia nudged AJ’s shoulder. “Wake up, goodmorning!”

“Hm?” AJ squinted his eyes open. “Clem?”

“No,” Sophia answered. “It’s Sophie. Your sister is already up.”

“Oh!” AJ struck awake at the girl who woke him, “She’s not really my sister, she’s kinda like a mom to me. It’s kind of the same thing with Violet. But I’m not sure if she wants to be my mom.”

“Oh,” Sophia looked at him with a questionable look, “Well, did you ask?”

“I asked Clem yeah, but I don’t know. I love Violet.”

“I bet she loves you too!” Sophie said with a bright smile. 

The two both stood up and started to head to the center of camp where the blown out fireplace was lit. Violet and Louis were packing their backpacks for the trip as Clem was talking to Prim and Kate. There was some type of soup sitting by the campfire. 

“I think your… mom saved you some soup, I’m gonna go find my family. I’ll meet back up with you when we leave!” 

Before AJ could say goodbye, the girl was running away to her tent. AJ felt weirded out that he watched her walk all the way back. Denying any feelings that he thought he was feeling. Unsure if they actually existed or not. AJ walked over to Violet and Louis packing snacks for the trip.

“I don’t think they’re gonna do that,” Violet disagreed with Louis.

“I think they would,” Louis rebutted.

“They won’t make their cow and horse have sex!”

“Just because there are walkers doesn’t mean we have to stop the road of innovation, I’m just saying.” Louis said with a smirk, knowing his idea was obnoxious.

“I don’t like you.”

“I’ll always love you,” Louis patted Vi’s shoulder. Louis saw AJ behind Violet’s back, “Hey AJ!”

“Good morning,” Violet gave a smile towards AJ, “have you eaten yet?”

“No, I was just gonna say goodmorning to you both and I wanted to see if you needed help.”

“Hmm,” Violet looked around camp to see if she could create a task for AJ, “Could you try to find some more flint by the fire to pack? We’re running low and could use some more.”

“I’m on it!” AJ looked up at the two, “I love you.”

“I love you too!” Louis replied with his arms on his hips.

“Hm?” Violet was struck with a smile, “Oh, love you too!”

AJ looked up at them for a while as they continued to pack before he left. Although he had Clementine to look after him, and the numerous times she single handedly sacrificed everything for him, AJ believed that they wouldn’t be as happy without the group they met. It feels like forever since they woke up in the dorm rooms. AJ didn’t like looking back at the beginning, especially after what he did to Marlon, and what happened to Brody not too long before.

Sometimes, AJ daydreams about where the group would be if the two were still alive. Would Marlon still confess to his wrongdoings? Would Brody and Violet be better friends? It brought tears to AJ thinking about it. How Brody was never able to die peacefully, and what AJ considered to be the “right or correct way” to die. Besides, no one dies anymore of just old age. There’s always a walker, a fight, a tight situation not everyone survives in. He just thought that if he could make anyone live, it would be them.

“Hey goofball,” Clem saw AJ walking up to her with red eyes. “Is everything okay? Are you feeling sick?” Clem started to feel AJ’s forehead for a temperature.

“I’m alright,” AJ said, “I just miss everyone back home.”

“Awh,” Clem gave AJ a warm hug, “I miss them too, we’ll be back for them before you know it.”

“Yeah,” AJ wiped his eyes before tears could come out, “I know.”

“We saved you a bowl of stew right here,” Prim turned her back away from the stool behind her.

“Go ahead and eat and we’ll be on our way,” Clem rubbed his head for reassurance as he grabbed the bowl of stew and sat to eat.

“The tents are just about wrapped,” Kate continued to update the status of their move, “We have everyone up and ready to move before the sun is up in the sky.”

“Perfect,” I’ll let Daly know now that we’re moving soon. I will let you two be now.”

“Thank you Prim,” Clem said, “for everything.”

“Don’t mention it darling,” Prim said with a warm smile.

Kate looked at the supplies behind her and started to organize everything that she could carry, she put a shiv on the side of her thigh, a backpack with a sleeping bag tied under it and started to carry a tent. Clem second Kate, she put on her usual backpack with a sleeping bag tied under it, and started to carry a toolbox for the tents.

“Hey sweetie,” Kate called Clem again.

“Hm?”

“How did it feel to lose your leg?” Kate wondered but quickly spoke again, “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, I just feel so bad that you had to go through that. If you want to talk about anything, I’m still here. I was there for your period, and I’ll be here again.”

Clem laughed, “It felt scary. When I lost my leg it was only me and AJ, we were separated from the group when we were trying to get away from Delta. I told AJ to kill me-”

“You asked AJ to kill you?!” Kate asked in astonishment.

“Yeah,” Clem said with ease, “Ever since I got him back from the ranch I began preparing him for anything that could happen, even the worst situations. But he didn’t. AJ told me I passed out by the time he chopped my leg, and he went to get everyone back home to help carry me back.”

“Well,” Kate thought about her response, “He’s a really smart kid. I’m glad we didn’t lose you. You were always on Gabe’s mind every now and then. Javi and I both agree you shaped him after you left. He was acting all tough, like you.”

“I think he could’ve done that on his own, no?” Clem questioned.

“Not in years!” Kate laughed.

“Shhh be quiet, he could hear us,” Clem joked, pretending to be on the lookout for Gabe.

“I can’t imagine what he must’ve felt when he saw you.” Kate started to daydream.

“Happy,” Clem answered, “But kind of disappointed.”

“Ah, because of Violet?” Kate replied.

Clem giggled, “How’d you know?”

“There’s not many girls your age that he could like!” Kate joked again, “You’re a beautiful girl Clem, I’m happy you found a girl who makes you happy. Plus teenager drama is the best. I can sense it. It’s like I’m watching the old soap operas my grandma used to watch!”

“I guess you’re right,” Clem smiled, “There wasn’t much drama until he showed up at Ericson.”

Kate whispered and went closer to Clem’s ear, “That’s how they all start.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“At least I’m not the one in a love triangle!” Kate teased Clem.

“Whatever,” Clem started to pack some supplies up on the horse.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it!” Kate nudged Clem’s shoulder before she left her alone and went to Gabe.

Clem smiled at the thought. She loves Violet, and would rather not be in a “love triangle”, but she was happy to see Gabe again nonetheless.

AJ finished up his bowl of stew, he wanted to compare it to Omar’s, but he couldn’t remember the exact taste of his. Omar liked to toss random things in the pot in random quantities, so it always tasted a bit different. He knew that Omar’s stew slightly made him want to gag, and this stew didn’t. AJ just thought he grew accustomed to the gross taste of stew to taste anything anymore, but other than that, he was happy he was able to eat.

He walked over what was left of the campfire and found some flint by the burnt firewood. He picked them up and started to head back to Violet, now seeing that almost everyone is huddled up to leave.

“I found the flint Violet!” AJ put them in his backpack that Prim left for him by the supply circle.

“Hey thanks!” Violet praised him, “That’ll help a lot for later, I appreciate it.”

“No worries,” AJ smiled at Vi and walked over to Gabe and Louis.

“No, I really, don’t think they would do that.” Gabe disagreed.

“Awh damn, not you too.” Louis said in defeat.

“What are you guys talking about?” AJ questioned.

“Oh,” Louis started scratching the back of his head, “nothing.”

“Hm.” AJ looked back and forth at the two of them and shrugged his shoulders. The whole group started moving into the forest. AJ turned around to see nothing but the remains of the camp. Gabe pushed dirt on top of the campfire and spread it all around the remains of the camp before they left to reduce the chance of anyone following their trail.

AJ scoped out the group in front of him and saw Sophia with her mom, Daly, and Roman, her brother. AJ was quiet for a while, debating if he should talk to her.

“What are you thinking about?” Gabe asked AJ.

“Hm?” AJ looked up to him, “nothing, why?”

“I think you should talk to her,” Gabe started his advice.

“Oh, you think so?” AJ thought.

“I know it, ask her what she likes to do for fun, maybe talk to her mom too. I think you’d make her very happy. She’s probably wondering where you are, you wouldn’t want to keep her waiting.” Gabe smiled at him.

“I guess so,” AJ said, blushing before picking up his pace to catch up with the girl. He walked beside her for a few steps before clearing his throat to speak.

“Hi Sophie,” he said quickly. 

“Hiya AJ,” Sophie smiled back, tilting her head. There was a second of silence as the two continued to walk.

“So, uh, what do you do for fun?” AJ asked curiously.

“For fun?” Sophie repeated. “My mom says fun is dangerous.”

“Oh…” AJ trailed off. “Clem says it’s important for me to feel like a kid even though things are dangerous.”

It was silent for a few minutes once again, just footsteps on the soft, marshy ground, before AJ was struck with an idea. He began digging his hands through his pockets before grabbing hold of the folded piece of paper he was looking for.

“Look!” AJ said excitedly to Sophia, handing her the paper. She unfolded it carefully then looked at its face. It was a picture AJ had drawn of him, Clem, and Violet. Below the figures he had written “mom’s und me.” Sophia smiled down at it.

“My mom taught me to write too,” Sophia said.

“Oh yeah, I’m not that good at that part, I meant I wanted you to see the picture,” AJ replied. “I draw for fun. Do you draw?”

Sophia nodded, “Yeah I do. I like to draw the animals my mom shows me in pictures. There used to be whole places with giant animals in them! And you get to eat popcorn and ice cream and have fun.”

“Did you ever get to see one of those?” AJ asked excitedly, eyes wide.

“Oh, no I didn’t, Mom said they disappeared when the monsters showed up. But she has lots of pictures of them,” Sophia explained.

“What were the places called?” AJ questioned.

“Zoos I think. Or animal preserves?” Sophia answered, unsure of the answer herself.

“My favorite animal is a bird,” AJ started. “They can fly and that’s cool.”

“My favorite is a Elephant,” Sophia answered smiling.

“Ele-wha?” AJ asked, furrowing his brow.

“Elephant,” Sophia began to explain. “They were big and gray and had a tube that came out of their head that ate and drank all its food.”

“That doesn’t sound real,” AJ said, skeptical.

“They were! And they had big ears and were super nice!” Sophi insisted. “Maybe all the zoo animals escaped when the monsters came, and we’ll see one in the wild!”

“Maybe we could use it to drive on!” AJ commented.

“Well, it’s not like a car,” Sophia laughed. “But it could definitely help us around instead of walking all the time.”

Daly, her mom, overheard the conversation, “And do you know why we have to walk all the time?”

Sophie huffed, “because it’s too dangerous to be in one place.”

Daly felt happy with her reply and gave her daughter a side hug, “Yes, baby.”

AJ started to walk slower to tell Sophie a secret without her mom noticing. He started to whisper, “You know, Clem told me the same thing. That we have to keep moving. But we stopped. I know we’re moving now. But Clem and I found a home. It’s where Violet and Louis lived. They helped us after our car crashed.”

“So you guys are gonna stay there forever? Doesn’t that sound like a bad idea?”

“Well, when it sounds like that, yeah I guess.” AJ scratched his head. “But it's like really deep in the forest, people never find it. And it’s boarded up with stone walls that are way bigger than anyone who could climb it!”

“Sounds like a good home,” Sophie smiled at him.

“I wish you could come back there with us.” AJ said as he realized that he would never see her again after they leave Richmond.

“Oh it’s okay,” Sophie assured him. “Maybe we could see each other again!”

AJ looked at the floor and smiled at the thought. They started walking on dirt after they left the grassy forest. The group has been walking for a while now, it felt like the land was endless.

Louis, Gabe, and Roman were all talking about Richmond. Mostly it was Louis and Gabe; Roman listened intently, nodding or shaking his head in response. Daly had mentioned that he had been mute since his father died, and the rise of the walkers made it so he couldn’t get treatment. Nonetheless, he was a great listener.

“No, there’s not many girls over at Richmond our age,” Gabe answered Louis’s question. “There’s a couple for sure, but none of them were that interested in talking to me.”

“You got me at a ‘couple for sure’,” Louis giggled. “It can get lonely back where we live. I feel like I’m the only guy there sometimes.”

“Oh?” Gabe questioned, “There’s Aasim? And Omar? Willy, Tenn, even AJ?”

“Aasim doesn’t even count anymore after he started dating Ruby. Omar is a pretty simple guy, but he’s usually to himself. I just really want to spend time with someone I really care about, I don’t know. I just want something to workout for me, just once.”

“Talk to some people around Richmond!” Gabe started to encourage him. “You’re a good guy, I’m sure you’re bound to make a new friend by the least.”

Roman patted Louis on the shoulder and gave him a warm smile. 

“I appreciate it bro,” Louis said to Roman.

The group continued walking for another mile. The group divided itself to smaller groups as they chose people to talk to. Clem, Kate, Prim, and Vi continued to talk about their plan to fortify Richmond and restore order.

Kate called to the group at once, “Okay everyone. We’re almost back, but we should take a break. The entrance at Richmond is usually covered with walkers. We should eat and get ready to enter the gates. We usually don’t want to open them when walkers could get in.”

The group all sat and ate the produce that Ruby gave them a while back, as the new group ate cans they were able to scavenge before the trip.

“Oh my!” Prim noticed the produce that the kids had. “You own a farm too?”

“It’s an old greenhouse the school had,” Vi answered Prim. “We got it running just recently after things calmed down with the Delta. One of our friends, Ruby, basically runs the place.”

“These Delta people sound like scary folk,” Prim started to quiet down her voice. “I hope no one loses their life anymore because of them.”

“We hope so too,” Clem thought, after thinking about Minnie, Lilly, Brody, and Marlon. Clem thought that they did live without them, and maybe life was easier without the trouble they brought. But it was still sad that they had to die in the first place, and many more as well.

“Anyhoo,” Prim started again. “I would’ve liked to meet this Ruby, it sounds like we could’ve gotten along. I used to own a farm before this started. A lot of greens, bright colors. Way more animals there too than just Moe n’ Neigh. It was a better life.”

“That sounds nice,” Clem smiled at Prim.

“It sure was,” Prim said as they continued to eat. “Now I lived my life, I’m ready to go to whatever is next. But I wish I could do more for the little ones. Like your AJ or that little Sophie. I would do anything for them to see a normal life.”

“You and me both,” Clem agreed.

“No point in living in the past, nowadays you always have to move forward.” Prim smiled and started to laugh. “I feel like I can’t ever just sit on my ass and do nothing anymore.”

“Damn right,” Kate said. “Well, the sun is making its way down. We need to get inside the gates. Everyone ready?”

The group felt wearisome enough after the walk, but they pushed themselves to continue. The group packed up their snacks and readied their weapons. It was about another half mile before they saw the great gates. AJ didn’t kill any walkers as they were leading up to the gates, but he had a personal goal to protect Sophie until they got inside.

Clem, Vi, Louis, and Gabe covered the group, stabbing a few straying walkers as the path got narrower to the entrance.

The group positioned themselves behind a couple of bushes.

Kate and Gabe saw Javi and Bruce at the watchtower. Kate made the bush she was hiding behind shrivel, causing the two to look over and see the group ready. Javi and Bruce readied their weapons at the walkers as the group started to walk forward in the heard.

“Cover each other’s six!” Kate yelled at the group.

The walkers turned their heads over and started to crowd them in. Bruce started to shoot a silencer at the walkers that were coming too close. AJ saw a walker heading towards Sophie and ran towards her.

“Sophie!” AJ yelled.

Nonetheless, Sophie was ready for the walker. She jumped and kicked down on the walker’s waist and stabbed it in the head when it fell.

“Oh shit!” AJ said, “Nice job!”

“Behind you!” Sophie warned him.

A walker had arms reaching for AJ until he knee kicked him down to the ground and stabbed it in the head.

“That was awesome!” Sophie said.

Daly refocused Sophie’s attention, “Sophie! Focus.”

Clem and Vi got surrounded with three walkers back to back. Louis and Gabe were coming to help until bullets ran through the walkers heads. Clem turned around to see who was up at the tower.

“Oh my god!” Javi said, looking down at the group. “Clem!”

“Javi!” Clem smiled at him for a quick second and went back to the walkers.

As Gabe was running to Clem and Vi, a walker grabbed him by his arm.

“Fuck!” Gabe screamed.

“Gabriel!” Kate started running to him. 

As Gabe was trying to unlatch himself from the walker’s grasp, he lost balance and fell, with the walker on top of him. 

“Someone help!” Gabe asked.

Kate was running to him but got further surrounded in her own trouble trying to reach him. Clem and Louis were in their own circle of walkers. Gabe was looking around for anyone that he could reach, but he found no one to get to him.

Gabe pushed the walker up by its collarbone to get some space in between both of them. The walker continued to bite over and over in hopes to reach his head.

Gabe felt his shiv on the right side of his thigh. He grabbed it in urgency, slightly cutting his thumb as he pulled it out.

However, the walker’s leg pushed his arm away from the shiv, causing him to know the shiv across the ground, out of his reach.

“Fuck!”

“Gabe!” 

Clem tried to reach him.


	13. Way Back Home

Clem reached out to Gabe to grab the walker off his shoulders until a walker grabbed her wrist.

“Hold on Gabe!” Clem screamed out to him, determined to save him.

As Violet got out of the walker circle, she looked at both Clementine and Gabe who both needed help. Her forehead started to sweat in the stressful situation, not knowing who to save. She thought a million things in a matter of seconds, as there was barely any time to think about anything. Clementine was being held hostage by a walker, but she was already grabbing her knife from the side pocket. Violet made a decision in a second that felt like a lifetime.

“Ergh!” Violet huffed and grabbed the walker off of Gabe and stabbed a knife in its head. Not a second after, she saw Clem stab the other walker on the side of its temple. She made the right decision.

“Thank God,” Gabe grabbed onto his knees and slouched as he gained breath. “Thank you, you saved my life.”

“Hopefully it’ll be the only time I have to,” Violet gave him a soft smile. 

“That’s good!” Javi yelled at them from the tower. “We’re opening the gates!”

The group started to circle together and walk backwards inside the gate as the walkers continued to close in. Everyone worked together to kill off the walkers that came too close as the gate closed shut.

Everyone regained their breath. Louis and AJ fell down on the floor in tiredness and sweat. 

“Its, uh…” Kate started as she was taking deep breaths. “Not usually that bad.”

Gabe wiped his forehead to clear it and started to laugh in between his breaths. It’s not the first time he came face to face with death, but it made him happy that Violet saved him, knowing that he’s not her favorite person at the moment.

“Kate! Gabe!” Javi came down from the watchtower and hugged them both. “You guys are okay. You are okay.” Javi gave them both a kiss on top of their heads. 

In between the heads of Kate and Gabe, Javi was searching the rest of the group for Clementine. They made eye contact while Javi was hugging the other two, and they smiled at each other.

Javi had to thank the blonde first, for saving Gabe, “Thank you. My name is Javi, I’m Gabriel’s uncle. I saw what you did for him down there. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you weren’t there. I can’t say thank you enough. Please, when we show you around, let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

Violet was bewildered by his gratitude, although she understood it. “It was no problem, Javi. We look out for each other.” Violet gave him a smile as they both walked over to Clementine. She was talking to both Louis and AJ, who were sitting on the ground by the gate.

“No bites?” Clem asked AJ.

“No bites.”

Clem helped Louis and AJ up. When she turned around. Javi was eager to talk to her.

“Clem! I’m so happy to see you.” Javi gave her a quick warm hug that felt longer than needed. “I shouldn’t be surprised that Kate found you.”

“Actually,” Clem scratched her head. “Only Gabe found me.”

“Hm?” Javi turned his head to Kate and Gabe as they were talking to the new group about Richmond. Javi turned a confused look, as he only knew that they were travelling together. “I’ll talk to them. I’m just so happy to see you. Did you find AJ?”

“I’m right here,” AJ raised his hand to get his attention from Javi. 

“Holy shit, right there you are!” Javi patted his shoulder. “I’m Javi, I knew Clementine when she was on her journey to find you. You were all she could talk about.”

“Oh I know,” AJ turned a shy look up to Clem.

“So Javi,” Clem wanted to change the subject, “You grew some facial hair.” 

Javi laughed, “It’s not like I could help it. If you want I could also cut your hair again.”

Clem smiled at the memory. It was usually Violet or Ruby that cut her hair back home. But for a change of pace, Clem was thinking of asking Kate.

“I know Gabe was happy to see you again,” Javi started and began to whisper. “Anything going on between the two of you?”

“Eh, no actually.” Clem answered, getting tired of the question. “Violet is my girlfriend.” Clem pulled Violet to her side and smiled at her.

“Oh!” Javi looked at the two with a smile. “I’m happy for you both. More importantly, I’m happy that you’re safe. The three of us were all scared and worried for you after you left. Not like you needed the worry, as a girl like you can hold yourself pretty well.”

The conversation grew to silence. Everyone was making small talk and catching up with one another. Soon the sky was turning a burning pink and orange, a soft image of the moon making itself seen on the horizon. The rest of Richmond was giving eyes towards the group, wondering about their business being here.

Bruce, the head scout, met up with Javi again after about an hour, “We should get to showing them around and their place to stay. It’s getting dark soon.”

“Okay,” Javi agreed. “How about you show Clem and her group to their place, and I’ll introduce Prim’s group to Richmond.”

Bruce nodded and walked over to the group of teenagers. “Hey everyone, I’ll be showing you your place to stay, Javi is showing around Prim’s group. Tomorrow we’ll get you guys on track of our plans.”

The group followed behind Bruce. As they were walking, Clementine looked around Richmond. The only thing she saw familiar was the courtyard and commons place where the kids used to run and the gardens. The bench where Javi cut her hair was still there, but the seat’s legs were broken. Although the sun was setting, the place felt off and dark compared to when she left Richmond. The usual wear and tear of an old place was there, but she knew the people were frightened, and sad. Clem started to worry if they were going to have to stay longer than planned.

“I like the atmosphere, very colorful,” Louis whispered to Clem.

“You’ll like it here, there’s good people.” Clem replied. “Not like before”

“Is this place safe?” AJ asked.

Bruce overheard and answered. “More safe than it was before, I can tell you that. Safe from walkers, for sure. But the people, well, we’re working on that.”

“Jeez, way-ta make him feel comfortable” Violet mumbled under her breath.

Bruce overheard again, “Oh, it’ll be alright. You guys are staying next to Javi’s house.”

Bruce turned right into a dark alley that showed houses in a straight line, almost like a townhome. Javi’s was on the left, the group’s was on the right.

Bruce turned to them before he left, “If you guys need anything, Javi will be home soon, I’m usually at the watchtower or at the church if you guys need me though.”

“Thanks Bruce,” Clem said as he went off.

The group entered the gray home and put down their stuff on a rusted iron table. There wasn’t much inside the home, it was two stories, but still very small and crowded in space for the whole group to be too comfortable. Nonetheless, the house was supplied with blankets and small foam bedding. It almost looked like an old hospital from the set up.

“I’m not sure if I remember right, but I think this is where they put the sick people to rest.” Clem started.

“Oh, great.” Louis said in sarcasm. “So we’re sleeping on dead people’s beds.”

“We’re always sleeping on dead people’s beds,” Violet remarked. 

“Oh shit,” Louis lowered his voice. “You’re right.”

“We should get some sleep,” AJ announced, curling onto one of the bed pads and attempting to sleep. He kept his knife in his hand as he dozed off.

As AJ slept, the older three continued to plan out their stay in Richmond, and how they were going to get home. 

“It almost feels surreal to be here,” Clem sat and hugged her knees to her chest. “I love Javi and his family, but it makes me have bad memories. When I was alone. When I didn’t have AJ.”

“What exactly did happen here?” Violet asked as she pulled Clem to lay in her lap. She softly stroked Clem’s tense forehead.

“It was ruled by these bastards who were lying to their entire community. They called themselves the New Frontier.” Clem began to explain. 

“Before Javi, there was a woman named Joan. She was running the place pretty well, until she was exposed for stealing from other communities just to strengthen this place. It wasn’t right, Her partners didn’t even know she was doing it. It caused problems, and their wall broke down. Walkers came in and killed people. Walkers killed Gabe’s dad.”

“Fucking hell,” Louis commented.

“Javi and Kate fixed up the place,” Clem finished. “I helped them cover the wall, and then I left to find AJ.”

Violet started to wonder while tracing circles on her girlfriend’s skin, “Would you have stayed if you already had AJ?”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” Clem answered. “I liked the idea of these communities. I used to stay in one called Prescott, they were pretty nice.”

“I can’t imagine you not meeting us,” Violet said in a sad tone.

“I can’t either,” Clem reached her hand up and stroked a piece of Violet’s hair. “I guess even in the walker world, things turn out the way they’re meant to be.”

The three continued conversation deep into the night, until the crickets were the only company that remained awake. It felt weird to sleep in a place that wasn’t home. It reminded Clem of when AJ and her were jumping place to place, never settling down. It created a sick feeling in Clem’s stomach that prevented her from sleeping. She watched Violet as she dozed off to sleep, and soon Clem’s eyes shut into soft slumber as well.

Meanwhile, Javi finally finished the tour of Richmond with the other group, “That's it for now everyone, you guys will be staying close to the end of the neighborhood. I’m right here if you guys need me.” Javi pointed to his house that started the neighborhood. “I won’t keep you any longer, we will talk more in the morning.” Javi greeted them with a smile.

“Thank you so much for the hospitality,” Prim said to Javi on behalf of the group.

No,” Javi replied. “I'm forever thankful that you took a chance on Kate’s offer, I promise your effort won’t be for nothing. Go on and rest, you guys deserve it.”

Prim and her group walked along the neighborhood to one of the ending townhomes, and settled inside.

“Are they inside?” A man asked his partner.

“The kids and the old woman?” he asked on top of the tree, scouting Richmond with his binoculars.

“Yeah stupid,” The man replied, “who else?”

“Yeah,” the man on the tree rolled his eyes.

“How many do they have on watch?”

“About two, seems like that every night.”

“Okay, that’d be easy, we should take the information back and report..”

The man climbed down the tree and met with his partner behind the bush. Before they started walking, a light flashed towards their direction. 

“Shit,” he hit his partner on the shoulder, “Be careful down the fuckin’ tree.”

The two waited behind the bush until the light turned away from their direction, letting out a sigh as it did.


End file.
